Delhi roadblock for Revanth’s US trip| Powertrip #162

Welcome to this week’s Powertrip, a political newsletter curated exclusively for subscribers of The News Minute and Newslaundry. This week’s edition is by Dhanya Rajendran and Shabbir Ahmed.In this week’s edition, we tell you why the MEA hastily put a stop to Telangana CM Revanth Reddy’s visit to the US. And it was not because of Mamdani.Our next story is about how new Tamil Nadu CM Joseph Vijay stayed firm despite several attempts to convince him otherwise and scrapped the airport project in Parandur.Powertrip is a newsletter that senior political reporters of TNM put together every week. For those who can’t access the full newsletter, get a subscription and read every Tuesday. .Why was Revanth stopped?Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is back in Hyderabad after the Ministry of External Affairs rejected political clearance for his trip to the United States. At a press conference following his return, Revanth said that Modi was behaving like a Gujarati and not like a Prime Minister, rejecting his trip while allowing the Gujarat Chief Minister to travel to the US.After the MEA’s rejection, several newspapers reported that it was because Revanth was trying to meet New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Vice President JD Vance. But is that really the case? A press officer in Mamdani’s office was not even aware of a request from Revanth Reddy’s office.We spoke to Revanth Reddy’s team, who said they believe the rejection came because of the high-profile meetings that had been set up with educational institutions in the US. They claimed that no effort had been made to set up meetings with either Mamdani or Vance and that even if that were the case, it would have been done only through the Indian Embassy in the US.According to Revanth’s official schedule, he was supposed to visit Harvard University, MIT, Northeastern University and Virginia Tech. His team had also been trying to meet officials at Columbia University and hold a roundtable at Georgetown with various university officials.According to our sources in the CMO and the Congress, they believe the BJP was spooked by plans to announce an executive education centre in Hyderabad in association with Harvard University. At a time when the Union government is under fire from the younger generation for ignoring education, especially with the campaign by Cockroach Janata Party exposing the pathetic state of schools, the government simply could not allow a Congress Chief Minister to make any strides in education.Beyond this, the Congress believes there was no reason for the rejection. One source added that even if Revanth were to meet Mamdani, what would be wrong with that? The BJP has positioned Mamdani as a rival who is anti-India.These sources also added that MEA officials would not have decided to deny political clearance for Revanth’s trip. They said it would have been a political decision, one that only the top two, Modi or Amit Shah, could have made.Why CM Vijay was adamant about scrapping the Parandur airport project The announcement to scrap the Parandur airport project is seen as one of the big moves by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.After the TVK government assumed office in May, the big question staring the Chief Minister in the face was regarding the Parandur airport. While the government was dropping hints that it was not inclined to take Chennai’s second airport project forward, there was no formal declaration from the government.Sources in the Tamil Nadu government told TNM that there was heavy pushback from various quarters to ensure that the project remained on track, particularly from the bureaucracy.There were multiple meetings regarding the second airport for Chennai, and officers were keen on convincing the Chief Minister. In all the meetings, the top bureaucrats argued that Parandur was the right choice for the airport project.Despite the pressure, the Chief Minister stood his ground and categorically told the bureaucrats to look at expanding the present airport and explore alternative sites for the airport that do not involve agricultural land or water bodies.The bureaucrats were not happy with the political leadership being adamant about the project. When it was decided that a formal announcement would be made during the ongoing session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the bureaucracy made a last attempt to convince the CM.As a last-ditch attempt, a top bureaucrat was sent to meet the Chief Minister and personally convince him why scrapping Parandur would be a bad idea for the state.The Chief Minister was categorical and conveyed to the officer that he was not willing to go back on his decision. 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