US visit row: CM Siddaramaiah, Priyank Kharge to seek explanation from Centre

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge have decided to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, respectively, seeking an explanation as to why the Union Government denied permission to Priyank to travel to the US to attend the Bio International Convention in Boston and the Design Automation Conference in San Francisco.
Priyank said that his absence from the platform will have an impact on the state's IT sector. 'If the minister is not seen in the forum, they might think Karnataka is not serious...,' Priyank said.
'We are pioneers in software exports. We are bringing investments to the country. We are contributing to the country's GDP growth, and we are making the PM's slogans into reality.
The delegation, which is helping to make these possible, has been rejected with no valid reasons. I have no issues if there are any mistakes on our behalf, we are ready to correct them. But rejecting without valid reasons is not acceptable. Nation-building is not happening only in Delhi, Karnataka is building the nation.
We are the most powerful economic engine. We want to know why they were denied with a suitable explanation. Otherwise, we will consider it as politics,'' Priyank said.
Further, he said CM Siddaramaiah approved his travel to the US in the first week of May. 'On May 15, we approached MEA along with our minute-to-minute meetings. But on June 4, they rejected it without giving any reasons.
If there was an issue with our proposal or format, if they had rejected it, we would have accepted it. But on June 6, we sent the same list of delegations without my name, they approved it by June 11, and on June 12, we sent KIONICS chairman Sharath Bacchegowda, as we wanted decision-makers, which they approved on June 14.
It looks like they are indulging in politics. They hate the name Priyank and the Kharge surname,'' Priyank said, adding that his visit to France was on invitation.
He said that when US President Trump says iPhone should not be made in India, the Centre keeps quiet. 'This means the government is adhering to what the US President is saying. It looks like India's foreign policy has been outsourced to America, and now it looks like even investment policy is outsourced to America,' he said.

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