Malda, March 30: The Trinamul Congress is crying foul over a venue in Chanchol that it has lost to the Congress for a crucial meeting on April 9, ahead of the Kharba by-election.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi will address the meeting.

Trinamul, which had fixed the same date and venue for Mamata Banerjee to campaign for Abdul Khalek, has accused the Malda district administration of favouritism, a charge shot down by the Chanchol subdivisional officer (SDO) Debashis Sarkar, who said the party had not followed official norms.

“They did not take the permission of the owner of the private ground where the meeting was planned. However, we have told Trinamul to apply following the norms,” Sarkar said.

The district president of the Trinamul, Babla Sarkar, said the party had applied to the subdivisional officer on March 1 for permission for the April 9 meeting. The district administration, however, gave the green signal to the Congress for a similar meeting the same day.

“But the Congress had approached him on March 24. The administration is now saying that our application did not conform to the rules. The SDO should have pointed out to us earlier about the shortcomings of the application and we would have corrected it on time,” Sarkar said.

Khalek alleged that the SDO was acting in favour of the Congress. “Whatever happens, Mamata Banerjee will address the public meeting at Kalambagan on the scheduled date,” he said.

Malda Congress leader and AICC member Asit Bose confirmed that Das Munshi would address the election meeting. “We had taken the permission of the owner of the land and we are going ahead with the meeting,” Bose said.

The owner of Kalambagan, Dilip Agarwal, confirmed that the Congress had taken permission for the meeting. “Trinamul did not come to me although no party is ever refused. Even the chief minister had addressed a public gathering there in 2001,” Agarwal said.

For the Kharba bypoll, Mamata has steered clear of the BJP and refused to enter into an understanding with the Congress.