Calcutta, July 2: Tapas Chatterjee, who switched to Trinamul from the CPM yesterday, was today accused of forcibly taking possession of Left offices in Rajarhat-New Town allegedly because he would find it difficult to enter party offices run by local ruling party MLA Sabyasachi Dutta.

Sources said Chatterjee's apprehension stemmed from the fact that his induction into Trinamul had been recommended by Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is Dutta's arch-rival. Ghosh Dastidar and Dutta are allegedly locked in a battle over the control of construction materials supply syndicates in Rajarhat, Gopalpur and New Town.

While Ghosh Dastidar controls 45 syndicates, Dutta is in charge of more than 100, CPM leaders alleged and some in Trinamul conceded in private.

The feud between the two leaders has taken such an ugly turn that chief minister Mamata Banerjee is said to have reprimanded them at a recent party meeting.

Asked about the allegation that he today captured CPM offices, Chatterjee avoided referring to suggestions that being Ghosh Dastidar's protege, it would be "impossible" for him to find a place in Trinamul offices run by Dutta.

Chatterjee, who was the Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipality chairman for 15 years from 1999, said: "Actually, since I am now in Trinamul, I wanted the CPM offices run by me to be converted into Trinamul establishments. What's wrong with that? I know the ownership status of these offices and there won't be any problem."

Police sources said Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee's nephew and MP, and Ghosh Dastidar told cops this morning to ask Chatterjee not to take over CPM offices before the ownership of the buildings were checked.

When he was the municipal chairman, Chatterjee had been accused of preventing Trinamul activists from opening party offices in Rajarhat.

"Tapas didn't allow any Trinamul office to come up in his area for more than a decade when he was the CPM chairman of the municipality. Now, he doesn't have an office to sit in after joining Trinamul. Look at his condition," a CPM leader said.

Chatterjee's men allegedly painted some of the CPM offices green and forcibly took over a few in Salua, Dashadron, Narayanpur, Battala, Gopalpur Pump House and Kadihati this morning.

Activists who joined Trinamul along with Chatterjee yesterday allegedly entered CPM offices forcibly, threw away party banners, flags and photographs of Left leaders and put up pictures of Mamata. They put up Trinamul festoons and flags too in some of the party offices.

Two former CPM activists, Akhtar and Saheb, who also defected to Trinamul with Chatterjee, allegedly led today's operation. When some CPM men tried to resist, Chatterjee's followers clashed with them and chased them away.