Karnataka’s Information Technology/ Biotechnology and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Priyank Kharge said that he will write to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking a valid explanation on the Centre denying him permission to travel to the U.S. on a scheduled official trip.

Addressing presspersons here after returning from Paris on Wednesday night, Mr. Kharge said he will also request Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to write to the Prime Minister in this regard.

Mr. Kharge was scheduled to attend multiple events in the U.S., including the BIO International Convention in Boston and the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco. However, due to denial of permission, he was forced to cut short his ongoing trip and returned from Paris to Bengaluru on Wednesday night.

Centre’s authority

Acknowledging the Centre’s authority to decline permission, he asserted that there should be a justification for this decision.

“We are okay with the denial but give us reasons. Rejecting my official tour without a valid reason is unjustifiable. My visit to the US was not to discuss politics but to attract investments. People in the US have no time to listen to our politics. We were going there to invite them to invest in Karnataka. The investment that comes to Karnataka will not only benefit the State but also the Centre,” he said.

“During my visit I was scheduled to interact with multinational companies to attract investments to Karnataka. We are competing not just with other neighbouring states such as Telangana and Tamil Nadu. We are ahead of the curve and we are competing with other countries such as China, Vietnam and the Philippines. How will they know our policy? We have to go there, make a presentation and pitch our proposals. It appears that the Centre is trying to curtail Karnataka’s economic growth,” the Minister said. 

Alleging that the Prime Minister had “outsourced” its foreign policy, Mr Kharge said he had now also outsourced the country’s investment policy.

Stating that he would take it up with the Centre, Mr Kharge said, “I am going to write to the MEA seeking a valid explanation on why permission and support from the Centre was denied to our delegation.”