Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s visit to the Czech Republic and the Netherlands has been cancelled after the Central government held his political clearance request in abeyance, leaving no response to his scheduled visit.
This is the third time that CM Mann has failed to secure political clearance for a foreign visit. In January, he was also denied political clearance for a visit to the UK and Israel.
The Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had denied political clearance to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for a proposed official visit to the United Kingdom and Israel. Before that, his request to visit France was also denied during the Paris Olympics.
He was scheduled to lead a high-level delegation in February to invite international investors to the upcoming 6th Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit, scheduled for March 13–15, 2026. The delegation for that proposed visit included State Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora, Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha, and other senior officials.
The CM, accompanied by the State Industries and Investment Promotion Minister Sanjeev Arora, was supposed to embark on the foreign visit last night.
Official sources said that they had not heard anything from the Union Ministry of External Affairs about the political clearance, which left them in uncertainty.
Due to the External Affairs Ministry’s silence on the issuance of permission to CM Mann and his official delegation, the visit, as of now, stands cancelled.
The CM was to lead the delegation to the two European countries to seek investment for the state, ahead of the Investors’ Summit scheduled for the following month.
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