"You See The Pattern": Priyank Kharge On Denial Of Clearance For US Visit

Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, who was not given clearance for a visit to the US, today alleged that he is being singled out for refusal and said he would question the foreign ministry about this treatment. "I will write to the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) why they denied clearances, why they denied support. The Chief Minister will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi also," he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Mr Kharge, the son of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, was expected to lead delegations to the Boston Bio 2025 and this year's Design Automation Conference in San Francisco. The minister, who was in France when he was denied clearance, had said that he would look into the matter once he is back.

He broke his silence today, saying his visit was pre-planned and the clearance was cancelled only when his name was there. He said he sent the application two more times, without including his name, and they were cleared on both occasions. 

"On May 15, we had sent the request with minute-to-minute programme. The request mentioned that the minister and delegation, that is, officers etc would be travelling. On June 4, we got a reply and I was denied clearance. I can understand if there was a solid reason that was given. But the response had (cited) no reason," Mr Kharge said.  

"On June 6, I took out only my name from the list and mentioned only the delegation of officers. On June 11, it got cleared. The request was exactly the same, but without my name.  On June 12, I proposed Sharath Bacchegowda who is the chairman of Kionics and on June 14, it got approved. So you see the pattern here," he added. 

Mr Kharge underscored the need for such visits, saying these help a state draw investment. 

"If ministers are not seen at the right places with the right people how will investments come to Karnataka? If investments come to Karnataka there will be a cascading effect," he said, pointing out that Karnataka is a big growth engine in such diverse fields as technology, ESDM, and biotechnology. "If the government thinks that Karnataka cannot deliver, I wonder who can," he told NDTV. 

The "Design Automation Conference" that Mr Kharge was expected to attend in the US bills itself as the "The Global Event for Chips to Systems". It was a crucial meet for Karnataka - Bengaluru being the country's IT capital - and Mr Kharge, who handles the state's IT ministry.

The BIO International Convention is one of the key events for biotechnology and claims to represent the "full ecosystem of biotech with 20,000 industry leaders from across the globe".