Manoj Tiwary has made his debut in politics, as the India and Bengal batsman has on Wednesday (February 24) joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal.
The former Bengal cricket team captain joined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at an election rally in Hooghly district on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tiwary took to Twitter to make the announcement of him joining the politics. He also shared his new Instagram page for the party activities, as he marked his “new journey”.
Tiwary wrote on Twitter: “A new journey begins from today. Need all your love & support.”
Meanwhile, the party has reportedly approached Tiwary about four weeks ago, as they were looking for a suitable “celebrity” replacement to cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who was the party's district president in Howrah but recently quit to “focus on sports.”
The party is likely to give Tiwary an adjacent constituency in the Howrah district, but not Shukla's Howrah (Uttar) constituency ahead of the Bengal polls scheduled for April-May 2021.
Noteworthy, the 35-year-old has represented India in 12 one-day internationals (ODIs) and 3 T20Is between 2008-2015. He has also played for the Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, and Rising Pune Supergiant in the Indian Premier League.
He has 8,752 first-class runs from 119 games and 5,466 runs in 163 List-A games to his name.
