Cricketer Manoj Tiwary joins TMC

Kolkata, Jan 24: Cricketer Manoj Tiwary joined Trinamool Congress in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at an election rally in Hooghly district on Wednesday.

Taking to twitter, the Cricketer poted "A new journey begins from today. Need all your love & support. From now onwards this will be my political profile on Instagram."

On the Instagram page, his bio reads as 'Politician, AITMC."

After joining the party, Tiwary said Mamata Banerjee is trying to unite people together. "BJP is playing divisive policy and Mamata Banerjee is trying to unite people together. When I play cricket, I play for the country, not on the basis of religion," he said.

This comes ahead of the Assembly elections. Elections for the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal that comprises 294 seats are set to be held this year as the current tenure ends on May 30.

Tiwary has represented India in 12 ODIs, amassing 287 runs which includes a century and a half-century. In the shortest format of the game, Mr Tiwary played three games for India and scored 15 runs.

While his international career didn't go as planned, he will sign off as a domestic legend who won many a game for state team Bengal. Apart from scoring prolifically for the state team across formats, he has also played a key role in mentoring the youngsters coming into the squad.

He was last seen in action in January in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.