New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Former India cricketer and Trinamool Congress MLA Manoj Tiwary on Wednesday accused the outgoing West Bengal government of using him and making “false promises” to deceive the public.

Tiwary served as minister of state for sports in the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

In a self-made video posted on Facebook, the former cricketer described the “obstacles” faced by him throughout the past five years.

Reminiscing about his entry into politics, Tiwary said, “I had refused to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. However, in 2021, I thought to utilise the platform to help people. Also, I decided to enter politics so that the wrongs that I had faced in the sports field do not get repeated with anyone else.”

He accused the Trinamool government’s Sports Minister Aroop Biswas of not providing him any opportunity to work in the sports department.

“I was just given a lollipop with the post of minister of state. Apart from having tea biscuits, there was no other work in the sports department. It pains me to say this,” he said.

He added: “All my hopes to work for athletes in the state were shattered when I realised that I was brought into politics only to be used by them (Trinamool). All arrangements were made to ensure that I would be unable to do any work.”

Tiwary claimed that he had used his connections to make Jamaican athlete Yohan Blake launch a Centre of Excellence in West Bengal.

“When I took this proposal to Aroop Biswas, he didn’t allow him to come, just because the total expense was Rs 5 crore. This was despite the fact that we had Rs 700 crore sports budget, which was left unutilised,” he alleged.

“We have not been able to stop sportspersons from migrating to other states, which is why I had thought of such an opportunity,” he added.

He blamed Aroop Biswas for being “insecure” and letting go of the opportunity.

The MLA said he had taken the proposal to the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) also. “But she told me to speak to Aroop Biswas,” he said.

Tiwary further alleged that his letters to the Chief Minister went unanswered, so when he personally went to speak to her after a Cabinet meeting, she had replied: “Don’t I have anything else to do?”.

“She didn’t even have 20 seconds to listen to me. They only made false promises to deceive people. I knew that day itself that this government won’t stay for long,” he said.

Referring to footballer Lionel Messi’s event in Kolkata last year, which had turned chaotic due to severe mismanagement, he said: “I had a feeling such a thing would take place.”

Moreover, the former cricketer alleged that he was “humiliated” by Aroop Biswas.

“I was never called onto the stage at sports events because he (Biswas) did not want to be in the same frame as me. Because of such repeated insults, when the Messi incident happened, I did not go into the field. People have seen that due to Aroop Biswas, fans of Messi could not see him properly,” he said.

He further asserted: “The way people have thrown away this government proves that everyone disliked them.”

–IANS

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