Howrah, Aug. 13: Around 1,000 villagers allegedly led by Trinamul activists gheraoed the convoy of CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra when he went to a flood-affected area in Howrah, angry that the Left team made the visit after the waters had receded.

Mishra, former minister of state for health Pratyush Mukherjee, the party's district secretary Biplab Majumdar and other CPM leaders were stopped when they were visiting relief camps in Udaynarayanpur. The mob accused the CPM leaders of 'indulging in politics'.

CPM leaders alleged that after spotting Mishra's car at Rajapur More around 12.15pm, a section of the mob stopped the vehicle, gheraoed it and shouted slogans against the party state secretary. Chants of 'go back Surjya Mishra, go back CPM' rent the air with the party state secretary sitting tight inside his car. Mishra and the other Left leaders had just visited two relief camps in Santoshpur and Perodulepara before arriving at Rajapur More.

Witnesses said that although the agitators were not carry any party flags, many of them were known Trinamul faces in the area.

The protesters said the CPM had 'little reason' to visit the area as the flood waters had receded and the villagers had already got relief materials from the government.

'When your party was in power, 12 or 14 times there had been floods. Then you cared little to give us relief. Now that we have got relief, you have come here to play politics with us,' Swapan Mondal, a villager, told the CPM team.

Soon after, a few hundred men circled the car in which Mukherjee was travelling and started banging on the bonnet. Many others broke the windowpanes of the vehicle of party mouthpiece Ganashakti.

The demonstration continued for about an hour with Trinamul workers coming out of panchayat offices and joining the protest. Police arrived at the spot, dispersed the mob and cleared the convoy's way so that it could reach other relief camps in Udaynarayanpur.

'Yes. There was a demonstration. But there was no ransacking. The team went to the places of its choice after the police lifted the blockade,' Howrah (rural) superintendent of police Sukesh Jain said.

According to local villager Kajal Karmakar, the demonstrators 'merely expressed their resentment but did not hurt any CPM leader or activist'.

'The villagers held up the CPM team for quite some time. They thumped on the cars. But there was no physical assault,' Karmakar said.

Late this evening, Mishra said at Alimuddin Street that today's 'attack' was a 'pre-planned one launched by Trinamul goons' but that it would in no way deter his future visits to flood-affected areas.

'It was clear that today's attack on our cars and men was pre-planned. Some 50-60 Trinamul goons did it. Our cars were stopped for around 45 minutes and some of them were damaged. They (Trinamul) also tried to deflate my car's tyres,' he said.

'However, such acts would not be able to prevent me from going to flood-affected areas and carry out relief work,' he added.

The CPM state secretary claimed that the police had initially requested him not to proceed after being stopped. 'But I told the police that come what may, I would go ahead even if they failed to stop the disruption,' Mishra said.

Trinamul denied involvement in the incident, saying that it was a local matter and had nothing to do with the party.

'Our government has been doing relief work smoothly. I don't know why the CPM wants to interfere with the government work. Anyway, if villagers are angry with the CPM, what can Trinamul do?'' said Samit Panja, the Trinamul MLA from Udaynarayanpur.