Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy Monday directed director-general (vigilance & enforcement) Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy to inquire into allegations against Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president A Jagan Mohan Rao and a few others who reportedly have been harassing and blackmailing IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for free tickets, and submit a report.
The IPL team even threatened to move out of RGI Stadium at Uppal.
A report in these columns on Sunday highlighted the friction between HCA brass and the IPL franchise over the complimentary tickets.
A few days ago, SRH management took strong objection to the HCA president’s conduct and sent an email, threatening to stop playing matches in Hyderabad “if they continued to harass by demanding free tickets”.
“All these unprofessional threats and actions by HCA, especially by the HCA president, make it evident that you don’t want Sunrisers to play at your stadium. If that is the case, please let me know in writing so that we can inform BCCI, the Telangana govt, and our management that you wish for us to move to another venue, and we will move,” Sunrisers’ general manager Srinath TB told HCA in an email.
The state govt took cognisance of the development and ordered an inquiry to end the culture of demanding free tickets. “Chief minister A Revanth Reddy has appointed Sreenivasa Reddy to inquire into the allegations. He also instructed that no one should harass SRH management for passes, no matter who they are. It could be officers in uniform or anyone else for that matter; this practice should end,” sources in the secretariat told TOI.
What triggered the row was HCA representatives locking up a box on the day of the SRH-LSG match on Thursday.
In a related development, HCA president Jagan Mohan Rao has decided to skip all meetings with SRH representatives till the issue is resolved.