“We will not let you live” is the latest motto that caught up mostly with the politicians ever since KCR raked up the Telangana agitation. Everyday, we witness dime a dozen such threats from anyone and everyone trying to disrupt public life in the name of the regional sentiment.

State IT, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, a Telangana politician, is one of those who learnt to live by holding things to ransom. It is still OK, if the populist and powerfully sentimental ‘mudda’ is confined to politics. But Komatireddy on Wednesday got a little carried away and came out with a strange and bizarre ultimatum that is not befitting his status as a minister.

Komatireddy was angry over the reported shifting of Deccan Chargers’ IPL matches out of Hyderabad. He even wrote a letter to Sharad Pawar and the BCCI president Shashank Manohar requesting them to restore the games to the city.

Around the same time, he went one step further and warned that the Hyderabad-based team Deccan Chargers will not be allowed to take part in IPL if the inaugural match of the league is not held in the city as was originally planned.

Komatireddy might have thought that with his latest move, he would be seen as a staunch Hyderabadi and Telanganite in the process. But he would only be making headlines for wrong reasons and can even become the butt of ridicule if he fails to realise his power as a sports minister and that of his ministry as against a mighty BCCI.

Komatireddy should know that there is no place for his brand of politics on a cricket field where the game plays to the gallery and no one else!!!