Bengal power minister Aroop Biswas was at the centre of a factional feud in the Trinamul Congress when he reached Howrah's Dumurjala on Thursday afternoon to restart a Christmas carnival that was shut down allegedly following a conflict between two groups in the party over parking fees.

The state's urban development minister, Firhad Hakim, had inaugurated the carnival on December 22 and it was slated to continue for 12 days.

The carnival, a first of its kind in Howrah, was shut down on Wednesday evening allegedly following a feud between two groups of party supporters over parking fees.

On Thursday, the chief minister said she had asked the carnival committee to restart the programme.

"I have instructed the committee to start the carnival from today. If there is an issue with parking and fees, the administration should have been informed," Mamata Banerjee said while leaving the helipad in Dumarjala for programmes in North 24-Parganas.

"I have instructed minister Aroop Biswas to intervene. The carnival can't stop owing to a few individuals."

Later, when Biswas reached, the minister witnessed Manoj Tiwary, his cabinet colleague and minister of state of sports and youths affairs department, charging towards Sujay Chakrabarty, chairman of the board of administrators of the Howrah Municipal Corporation, in the presence of warring groups of Trinamul supporters.

Tiwary allegedly pushed Chakrabarty away while the latter was sharing steps with Biswas as the power minister walked towards the carnival venue. Police officers at the spot struggled to bring the situation under control as supporters of the two groups kept shouting slogans and tried pushing one another in the presence of Biswas.

The power minister's security guards then intervened and ensured that the minister could leave the venue to later hold a meeting with Tiwary and Chakrabarty in tow.

Biswas later said the differences had been resolved and the carnival would continue till January 3.

"Every family has its problems. The differences between the two have been resolved. The carnival is a melting ground for the seniors and the juniors," Biswas later told the media.

The minister said there would be no separate fees for parking. The police will look after the issue of parking of vehicles.

Tiwary later said he had objected to the collection of parking fees from visitors to the carnival illegally and denied pushing Chakrabarty.

Senior Trinamul leaders said Howrah always witnessed factional feuds but it had never reached a state when a carnival had to be shut down. The Christmas carnival was aimed at sending out a message to the residents of Howrah where the BJP has been steadily gaining ground.

"We don't want any wrong signal to go out ahead of the Parliament polls," said a senior Trinamul leader in Howrah refusing to be named.

"Mamata Banerjee's intervention should set things in place for good and the factional feuds would hopefully stop."