Jatu lahiri

West Bengal Youth Services: West Bengal Youth Services and Sports Minister and former cricketer Manoj Tiwary feels that politics is more challenging than playing cricket. The cricketer-turned-politician joined Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) before West Bengal's legislative assembly election in 2021.

The ruling party fielded Tiwary from the Shibpur constituency, replacing party veteran Jatu Lahiri, who was a five-time MLA from the same constituency. The former Bengal captain lived up to the expectations and won the seat by a heavy margin to secure the fourth consecutive term for TMC from the seat.

"I joined politics to serve the people with a bigger platform. I believe in truth, even if I had to go against my party (TMC), I would not hesitate. But I am not an official spokesperson so can't comment on issues. There are persons who can talk on the party's behalf, which is a better way (to communicate). If you look at all the interviews before I entered politics, you'll hear the same kind of statements, and even now it's the same," the former batter told IANS.