Congress Rejects BRS’ Claims on Revanth’s Harvard Programme

Hyderabad:The Congress on Friday rejected opposition BRS’ claims that the state government had funded Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's course at Harvard University during his recent visit to the US in January and said he had paid the fee from his pocket.

The BRS alleged that the government bore the expenses of the programme, citing a reply obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act which stated that “the expenditure shall be borne by the education department under the relevant head of account.” The education portfolio is currently held by the Chief Minister himself.

The RTI reply, issued by the general administration department (political) to Hyderabad resident Karim Ansari, included a copy of GO Rt. No. 5 dated January 1, 2026. According to the government order, the Chief Minister visited the United States from January 25 to January 30 to attend the “Leadership for the 21st Century Program” at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The RTI response did not specify the amount spent on the Chief Minister’s visit or the fee for the programme at Harvard. The issue triggered a political slugfest after BRS alleged on social media platform X that the Chief Minister had pursued studies using public money.

Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, Congress MLC Addanki Dayakar rejected the allegations, and clarified that the Chief Minister had personally paid the course fee from his own funds. Dayakar said that the GO mentioned travel expenses for the CM's official visit to the US but the fee for the Harvard programme was not paid from the public exchequer.

He accused the opposition of misrepresenting the facts and said the Chief Minister’s visit was part of official efforts to explore institutional tie-ups with Harvard University and hold interactions with university officials and students to promote the state’s “Telangana Rising Vision 2047.”