Mamata Banerjee will conduct a workshop for Trinamul Congress workers at Chakla in North 24-Parganas on Thursday as part of an initiative to address the problem of factional feud in the district ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Amid a spate of recent incidents of public conflict between some leaders in the district, which have been embarrassing the party, the state leadership has conveyed a clear message to all factions to bury their differences while preparing for Mamata’s visit.

The situation in Trinamul in North 24-Parganas has become so fragile, said a source, that there are possibilities of unruly situations during the meet.

"Our biggest challenge is to hold a peaceful meeting of Didi and we are trying our best," said a source, referring to some recent incidents in which internal differences spilled out in the public.

“There are major conflicts among some top leaders, which, despite repeated caution, could not be handled. On December 14, during the first core committee meeting in Barasat, it became obvious… and subsequently, on December 23 in Madhyamgram,” said a leader.

“In all the five organisational committees in the district, differences among local leadership have caused disintegration in the organisational activities, which has been influencing party workers at the grassroots,” he added.

Party insiders said it has been a headache trying to mitigate feuds between Jagatdal MLA Somenath Shyam and Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, Ashoknagar MLA Narayan Goswami and Barasat MLA Chiranjeet Chakrabarti, besides the demand for the nomination of a local candidate in Basirhat, replacing MP Nusrat Jahan.

Trinamul’s Bagda MLA and core committee member Biswajit Das refused to acknowledge the differences.

“There is no rift at all... there might be some differences in opinion. At the end of the day, we are united and committed to fight for Mamata Banerjee,” said Das, a Trinamul turncoat who won on a BJP ticket and then defected to Mamata’s party.

North 24-Parganas, the most populous in the country after Maharashtra’s Thane, is a crucial district with numerous urban, semi-urban and peri-urban centres with substantial support for the party, which wants to win all five seats in the Lok Sabha polls, overcoming the BJP’s influence among the Matua community and its own organisational drawbacks, particularly after the incarceration of district heavyweight Jyoti Priya Mallick, Bengal’s forest, and public enterprises and industrial reconstruction.

Mallick’s importance – despite his wings being clipped after the 2021 Assembly election, purportedly under Trinamul Number Two Abhishek Banerjee’s instructions -- was rooted in his ability to handle the politically volatile district with five Lok Sabha seats and 33 Assembly constituencies, both being the highest in Bengal.

On Thursday, Mamata will visit the renovated Baba Loknath Brahmachari temple complex in Chakla, and announce some new projects for the district, before addressing the party workshop.

Elected representatives and party workers down to the booth-level, and members of various wings of the party will attend the workshop.

Besides the niggling district-level problems, there are lingering concerns over the purported displeasure of Mamata’s nephew Abhishek, who has been staying away from most activities of the party outside his Lok Sabha seat.