Waves OTT accused of skipping Messi’s Hyderabad leg as Rahul Gandhi set to attend event

Hyderabad: Waves OTT, Prasar Bharati’s streaming platform, on Saturday announced live and free coverage of Lionel Messi’s “GOAT India Tour” across Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, but it did not include the Hyderabad leg in its stated livestream schedule, triggering political allegations in Telangana.

The Waves OTT communication brands the broadcast as a “three cities, three nights” plan, with streams scheduled for December 13 (Kolkata), December 14 (Mumbai) and December 15 (Delhi).

The Hyderabad omission has sharpened chatter because multiple reports, including NewsDrum’s earlier update on the revised itinerary, have positioned Hyderabad as the tour’s “south” stop after the Kochi plan was dropped, to make the programme pan-India across four corners.

On Saturday, the political angle intensified after news reports said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to attend the Hyderabad event at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Saturday evening.

A short friendly match is planned between Singareni RR9 and Aparna-Messi All Stars, and five minutes before the game, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Messi are expected to dribble the ball together.

Gandhi is expected to arrive in Hyderabad around 4.30 pm and proceed to Taj Falaknuma Palace, where Messi is stated to be staying, before heading to the stadium.

Multiple Congress leaders, speaking to NewsDrum, alleged that a government-run platform may have chosen to avoid carrying a live feed from Hyderabad because the visuals would include both the Telangana chief minister and Rahul Gandhi at the same event.

Political rivals alleged privately that a government-run platform may have avoided a live telecast from Hyderabad because it would inevitably carry a high-visibility frame featuring the chief minister and Rahul Gandhi around the same event, amplifying political optics beyond sport.

The allegation gains sharper context because multiple reports around the tour’s Delhi finale have said Messi is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 15, before public events in the capital.

Critics argue that a sequence in which Gandhi is seen meeting or greeting Messi in Hyderabad ahead of the reported Modi meeting in Delhi would be politically explosive if carried live on a state platform, and could be clipped and circulated instantly across social media.

Prasar Bharati and Waves OTT have not issued any clarification on why Hyderabad is missing from the announced livestream plan, or whether a separate broadcast arrangement exists for the city.