June 19: The upward curve of one cabinet minister alongside the downward spiral of another has been the topic of discussion in the Trinamul Congress camp for the past few weeks.

Alterations in the pecking order enforced by Mamata Banerjee are common in the Trinamul establishment. But the consistency with which housing and youth affairs minister Aroop Biswas has been rising and the steady fall from grace of labour minister Malay Ghatak have taken many leaders by surprise.

"Aroop's good work in Tollygunge, both the Assembly constituency and the entertainment industry (for which Mamata has a soft corner), is being rewarded by the chief minister," a senior leader said.

"On the other hand, Ghatak is being sidelined and his rivals in Burdwan are being brought forward by the chief minister.... She is displeased with him because she believes Ghatak was responsible for Dola Sen's defeat in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat," he added.

Yesterday, Biswas was placed jointly in charge of the party's organisation in the crucial Darjeeling hills along with north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb. Party sources said Deb's wings were clipped after the "embarrassing" defeat in the Siliguri civic polls at the hands of the Left.

Although some senior leaders believe that Biswas' elevation to the hill post was a chance event as he happened to be touring north Bengal with the chief minister, most attribute it to Mamata's unshaken faith in the two-time legislator from Tollygunge.

Senior leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay was at the receiving end of Mamata's wrath recently for getting involved in a spat with Biswas in the Assembly corridor.

According to a cabinet minister, Biswas, along with his brother Swarup and sister-in-law Jui, play a "pivotal" role for the party in nine south Calcutta civic wards comprising areas such as Tollygunge, Golf Club, New Alipore, Azadgarh, Regent Park, Kudghat, Ashok Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Bansdroni, Ganguly Bagan, Naktala and Garia.

Biswas has been "informally" handling the sports and transport departments since cabinet colleague Madan Mitra went to jail in December in connection with the Saradha scam.

"Biswas is the nodal figure for the ruling establishment's liaison with and control of the entertainment industry, clubs in almost every neighbourhood, transport lobbies and realtors.... You can assess his importance to a party like Trinamul," the cabinet minister said.

Biswas could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this month, Biswas was also handed charge of the party organisation in Burdwan ahead of the Asansol municipal elections and the Assembly polls next year. That was a significant reminder of the decline of labour minister Ghatak, who was once among Mamata's favourites and the main leader in the district.

Last year, the agriculture portfolio was taken away from Ghatak after Trinamul lost the Asansol Lok Sabha seat to the BJP, allegedly on account of sabotage engineered by him. He had resigned from the cabinet but was retained because of his organisational clout in Asansol.

But recently, his removal from the key post of party president in the Burdwan industrial belt indicated that the chief minister's patience with him was wearing thin.

Ghatak's slide could not have come at a worse time for him, with the civic elections likely to take place this winter after the formation of the Greater Asansol Municipal Corporation comprising important civic bodies in the industrial areas of Asansol, Kulti, Raniganj and Jamuria.

"We are lagging behind in six of the nine Assembly segments in the Asansol and Durgapur sub-divisions, according to the Lok Sabha poll results, and we need to get rid of factionalism," a district Trinamul leader said.

Earlier this week, Mamata promoted two of Ghatak's rivals. While Durgapur mayor Apurba Mukherjee was made the president of the party's local unit, V. Sivadasan was assigned to lead the party in Asansol.

Ghatak's brother Abhijit, removed from the post of Trinamul Youth Congress president in Burdwan after the Lok Sabha polls, is yet to be inducted into a committee of importance.

Factory owners in the region have been expressing dissatisfaction with the mushrooming of multiple trade unions of the two factions, which has tarnished the image of Trinamul and weakened the organisation.

"Ghatak was the last word in Burdwan since the inception of Trinamul. However, he has created factionalism in the district," the district leader said.

Ghatak, however, denied any factional feud and described the organisational restructuring as a "routine procedure".

"We all are equal soldiers of the party under the leadership of one supreme leader. There is no factional feud. We all work together," he said.