Mamata Banerjee “Didn’t Even Give Me 20 Seconds,” Alleges Ex-India Star Manoj Tiwary. Blames Trinamool For Lionel Messi Fiasco

Manoj Tiwary, former India cricketer and outgoing Trinamool Congress MLA, on Tuesday made some explosive allegations against the Mamata Banerjee-led political party. In an interview with news agency PTI, Tiwary said the “TMC chapter is over” for him, alleging that the party denied him a ticket from Howrah’s Shibpur constituency for refusing to pay Rs 5 crore. On Wednesday, Tiwary uploaded another video on his social media accounts detailing what he went through during his time as Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs in West Bengal.

“In this video, I want to explain how my work has been hindered over the past five years. I want to share this. Aroop Biswas (TMC leader and former minister) prevented me from working. I come from the sports world and wanted to do a lot for sports. In the sports department, I had nothing to do except have tea and biscuits. They made sure I could not work,” Tiwary said.

“I wanted to work for many talented youngsters in athletics, football, and other sports. I wanted to build good infrastructure. They just wanted to use me and ensure I could not work. Through my connections, I had made plans and facilitated world-famous athlete Yohan Blake to build a Centre of Excellence in West Bengal. But Aroop Biswas rejected the proposal. Only Rs 5 crore was needed to bring him. In fact, a Rs 700 crore sports budget was thrown away. I was dejected.”

Tiwary added that Aroop Biswas, who resigned as West Bengal sports minister after the Lionel Messi fiasco – wherein the football great had to leave Yuva Bharati Krirangan early following a security threat – was insecure of him.

“I wasn’t invited to any events. I was even on the field during the Durand Cup, but I wasn’t invited because Aroop Biswas couldn’t tolerate my image. I wasn’t present at Messi’s event because of the repeated insults. I felt something serious was about to happen. You must have seen that all the sports lovers in the state were embarrassed by Aroop Biswas. Everybody remembers the Messi event. Messi left the event within 5-10 minutes just because of Aroop Biswas,” Manoj Tiwary said.

“You can imagine what I’ve faced in the Sports Department over the past five years. I want to say that whatever God does, He does for good. This narrow-minded government was removed. They worked for themselves, not for the public. There was a lot to be done for Shibpur, which I tried to explain repeatedly, even raising my voice in cabinet meetings. One day, when I raised this issue with the Chief Minister after a cabinet meeting, she said to my face, ‘Don’t I have anything else to do?’ She didn’t even give me 20 seconds to explain what I wanted to say. This government was based on false promises. I realised that very day that this government wouldn’t last long,” he added.

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