Trinamool Congress workers, allegedly from rival factions, clashed in the presence of actor-politician and local MP Dev Adhikari during a meeting to plan the annual children's fair Ghatal Shishu Mela on Sunday afternoon.
Ten persons were injured, including three severely, at Ghatal Aurobindo Stadium, West Midnapore, in the clash.
Sources in the party said both chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee sought a report from seniors in the district and were "very displeased" with the incident.
Sources said MP Dev contacted both of them.
Sources in the party said that the clash was a result of a long-standing dispute between Dev and former MLA Sankar Dalui over the management and control of the fair.
On Sunday, when Dev and Dalui arrived at Ghatal's Arabinda Stadium to mediate the dispute, a heated altercation between his supporters and those of Dalui escalated into a violent brawl involving sticks and fists in front of the actor-politician.
"This has never happened in my political career and I am sorry for what has happened. I have always wanted to promote peace and prosperity and I can never believe that something like this can happen in front of me. In the morning, I had a meeting with the district president and I and Sankarda (Sankar Dalui) promised to resolve the problem,” Dev said on Sunday evening.
Sources in the party said that Dev under the instruction of the chief minister had met Dalui in the presence of district president Ashis Hudait on Sunday morning and decided to form a managing committee where both of them were supposed to be present. Accordingly they went to Ghatal Aurobindo Stadium to make a formal announcement, but the clash erupted.
Ghatal Shishu Mela started in 1990. It was initially under the control of the CPM but after the TMC came to power in 2011, the fair became a regular feature of the party’s annual activities.
While it is not a government-organised event, the position of president has traditionally been reserved for the SDO of Ghatal, with former MLA Shankar Dalui serving as the general secretary.
The fair started to lose its sheen after Dalui became inactive following his defeat in the 2021 Assembly elections, and there was no fair in 2022 and 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2024, it was organised on a smaller scale.
In an effort to revive the lost glory of the fair, Dev promised to organise it in a bigger way after he was re-elected for the third time as the MP of Ghatal. Consequently, a meeting was held on November 8, where a 47-member committee was formed, appointing Dev as general secretary and the SDO of Ghatal as president.
However, party insidersrevealed that Dalui, nowa zilla parishad member,and his followers wereexcluded from the committee which angered Dalui, prompting him to form a separate 50-member committee, naming himselfgeneral secretary and appointing a well-known gynaecas president.