http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120305/jsp/bengal/story_15213293.jsp

Partha gets taste of party squabble

OUR BUREAU

Chatterjee tries to pacify workers at the Trinamul convention in Arambagh on Sunday. (Mahes Hazra) March 4: Industries minister Partha Chatterjee had to step in to quell two warring factions of Trinamul at a conference in Hooghly's Arambagh today, the incident coming at a time the party is "worried" about infighting. "The rise in intra-party squabbles is worrying us because we are already facing a lot of criticism from the Opposition and our ally Congress on matters of governance," a Trinamul general secretary said. He said chief minister Mamata Banerjee would discuss the matter with some district Trinamul chiefs on Saturday. Chatterjee told The Telegraph this evening that he had to "snatch" a microphone from a leader at the Trinamul panchayati raj convention after he started accusing a leader from another faction of filling up the venue — the Rabindra Bhavan auditorium — with "one-time CPM supporters". "I had to snatch the microphone from Samir Bhandari after he began accusing Swapan Nandi of denying entry to some party faithfuls and filling up the hall with one-time CPM supporters. I told them (the warring factions) that this was not the forum to discuss such issues. I returned (to Calcutta) after settling the issue," Chatterjee, the Trinamul secretary-general, said. He denied reports that some disgruntled Trinamul workers had snatched a mike from him. The trouble started when Nandi and his supporters allegedly did not allow Trinamul workers owing allegiance to Bhandari to enter the auditorium. When Chatterjee arrived, Trinamul supporters surrounded his car and gave vent to their grievances. Bhandari said later: "The public outburst of my supporters is genuine. They are being ignored even though they have been with the party since 1998." Two days ago, Trinamul's panchayati raj convention in Murshidabad's Behrampore had witnessed similar scenes of infighting spilling out into the open. Labour minister Purnendu Bose had stormed out of the venue on Friday after his speech was drowned out by supporters of former district chief Sagir Hossain. Hossain had claimed he was not invited to the programme. Hossain has been locked in a tussle with current Murshidabad Trinamul chief and junior fisheries minister Subrata Saha. Trinamul murders A Trinamul zonal committee president in Cooch Behar was shot dead in an apparent fall-out of factional feud following a recent election to the post. A Trinamul worker was beaten to death allegedly by CPM supporters in Birbhum today.