Factionalism within the Trinamool Congress has flared up in Cooch Behar just months before the Bengal Assembly elections, triggering concern within the party’s ranks in north Bengal, where the BJP remains a formidable challenger.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Trinamool managed to win only two seats — Mekhliganj and Sitai. The BJP secured the remaining seven in the district. The equation shifted marginally after Udayan Guha won the Dinhata by-election, raising the Trinamool’s tally to three MLAs against the BJP’s six out of the nine Assembly seats in Cooch Behar.

Despite this, the Trinamool reclaimed the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by projecting a united front. Soon after the elections, factionalism resurfaced sharply.

The latest flashpoint is the directive issued to Rabindranath Ghosh, the influential chairman of Cooch Behar municipality, by the party district president Abhijit De Bhowmik, instructing him to resign.

On November 11, De Bhowmik sent a WhatsApp message asking Ghosh to step down within seven days according to the party’s instructions. A written communication followed the next day.

Ghosh, a veteran Trinamool leader, rebuffed the directive, saying the district leadership had no authority to demand his resignation.

“If the state leadership or Mamata Banerjee asks me to step down, I will do so without a minute’s delay,” he said.

More than a week has since passed since then, and Ghosh has remained firmly in his post.

A section of Ghosh’s supporters believe the district leadership is now considering a no-confidence motion in the civic board to remove Ghosh.

However, his supporters have already escalated the matter to the party’s top leadership, seeking intervention to prevent such action. Some of his followers have even threatened to take to the streets if attempts to unseat him continue.

Sources said that a faction of Trinamool leaders, identified as followers of Ghosh, had been assembling at the residence of Partha Pratim Roy, spokesman of the district committee for the past few days.

“On Saturday, they sent a letter to party chief Mamata Banerjee stating that the decision to remove Ghosh is unfair, “said a source.

The signatories of the letter include Partha Pratim Roy, former minister Binay Krishna Barman, labour leader Parimal Barman and over 500 people.

Sources said Ghosh’s followers believe that is an insult that the district present led by state minister for north Bengal development Udayan Guha is looking to remove Ghosh from the post.

A source in the district Trinamool said currently there are two factions in the party’s district committee. One of which was led by Bhowmik (the district president), north Bengal development minister Udayan Guha, MP Jagadish Chandra Barama Basunia and district chairman Girindranath Barman.

The other group was led by the chairman of Cooch Behar civic body Ghosh, Roy, include Trinamool leaders like Khokan Mia, Binay Krishna Barman, Parimal Barman, Azizul Haque and Laxmikant Sarkar.

Political observers say the timing of such open discord is damaging for the Trinamool. “In north Bengal, the BJP considers this region its stronghold. In 2021, the BJP won 33 of the 54 seats in the region. With Assembly polls only months away, factional feuds in a key district like Cooch Behar place the Trinamool at a disadvantage,” one observer noted.

The Trinamool’s district chairman declined to comment. “We have nothing to comment on this issue,” he said.