Calcutta, March 4: Ahead of its toughest elections in three decades, the CPM also has to contend with rebellion in its ranks.

Katwa MP Abu Ayesh Mondal revolted today after being dropped from the Left Front list of candidates.

More than happy with the development, Trinamul Congress leaders have apparently sent feelers to the CPM leader. Mondal, it was said, could call on Mamata Banerjee tomorrow.

A former MLA, he was elected to the Lok Sabha in a 2006 bypoll. Officially, he was dropped as the constituency ceased to exist after delimitation. But he complained that the party axed him without bothering to tell him in advance. “They did not show the basic courtesy. I am shocked and aggrieved.”

Asked if he would join Trinamul, Mondal was evasive. “I’ll continue in politics, but I am yet to decide with whom.”

Burdwan CPM secretary Amol Haldar said Mondal’s expulsion from the party was almost certain. “The party has got evidence of his connivance with the Opposition for a long time,” Haldar said.

Mondal rubbished the charge and claimed that his open defiance had the support of the CPM’s rank and file in Burdwan. He slammed party veteran Benoy Konar, a leader from Burdwan who likened him to a “rotten organ that needed amputation”. “The likes of Konar have ruined the party. That it’s losing its mass base is clear from the Bishnupur West bypoll results (Trinamul won the Assembly seat by 30,000 votes).”

Mondal warned that his possible expulsion would further alienate Muslims from the CPM.

Haldar insisted that the rebellion wouldn’t hit the party’s poll prospects in the district. Mondal’s influence is limited to a small area, he said.

State party sources said Mondal being a “local-level” leader, the district leadership would decide the action to be taken against him and the state brass would approve it.

Another Burdwan MP, Nikhilananda Sar, has also been dropped and is known to be equally “aggrieved”.

Last year, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee complained that the party had not shown the courtesy to consult him before naming him on the list of MPs submitted to the President when the CPM decided to withdraw support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal. His constituency, Bolpur, has also ceased to exist after delimitation.

A former Katwa MP who had also been expelled from the party questioned Mondal’s position. “He should have come out earlier if he had an ideological problem. He should not join another party for a Lok Sabha ticket,” Saifuddin Chowdhury said.

A former CPM MP from South 24-Parganas’ Mathurapur, Radhika Ranjan Pramanik had joined Trinamul after being expelled from the party. He lost as an Opposition candidate.