The political resurgence of Chhatradhar Mahato, the face of the Lalgarh movement that helped Mamata Banerjee’s rise to power in 2011, threatens a faction fight and organisational crisis for Trinamool in Jungle Mahal ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

Mahato re-entered Jungle Mahal politics on November 14 last year after a lower court discharged him in the 2009 Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express hijack case.

A source said Mahato — formerly believed to be a Maoist sympathiser and now a Trinamool state committee member — immediately began reactivating his old organisational setup in Jungle Mahal by holding a series of political programmes.

The source said this had embarrassed Trinamool’s official local unit, led by forest minister Birbaha Hansda and the party’s district unit chief, Dulal Murmu.

“The party has split into two powerful groups, one led by Mahato and the other by Hansda and her team,” a senior Trinamool leader said. “If not resolved in time, the rift can become a hurdle for us during next year’s Assembly elections.”

He added that the BJP, which won five of the six Lok Sabha seats in the state’s western parts in 2019, still had a significant presence there despite Trinamool doing well in the region in 2021 and 2024.

Mahato had played a key role in the Lalgarh movement, organised with Maoist support under the banner of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, during the CPM’s last years in power.

He was released on bail in 2020, a decade after his arrest, and joined Trinamool soon after. He was included in the party’s state committee and tasked with managing Lalgarh’s 12 Assembly seats during the 2021 elections.

He was arrested by the central anti-terror agency NIA after the Assembly polls and freed by a court last November. He remains accused in over 30 criminal cases.

“The party needs to handle the situation with the utmost care,” a senior Trinamool leader said in Calcutta. “We must remember there is a rivalry in Jungle Mahal between the tribal and Kurmi communities. While Mahato is a Kurmi, Hansda and Murmu are from the tribal community,” he said.

The rift became clear on Sunday when Mahato organised a massive rally in the Khas Jungle area of Jhargram in memory of three party “martyrs” killed in alleged police firing in 2009.

The event, which drew 5,000 people, was held on the same ground where Mamata had addressed a rally to condemn the police after the 2009 firing.

A source said Mahato wanted to send out the message that he was poised to take control of the party’s affairs in the area. None from the party’s official unit participated in the programme.

“I had invited all senior party leaders in the district, including minister Hansda and district president Murmu, as this (event) is related to those who lost their lives trying to oust the atrocious CPM government,” Mahato said.

“Unfortunately, they did not come. I would request them to participate in events that reflect the emotions of the people of Jungle Mahal.”

Mahato said that whatever he was doing was for the party and Mamata.

Hansda did not respond to calls from this newspaper. Murmu accused Mahato of organising Sunday’s programme and previous events without obtaining consent from the party.

“I did not attend the programme because he (Mahato) did not discuss it with us before arranging it. He is doing everything according to his own plans; the party has no connection with the event,” Murmu said.

On if he had told the party’s senior leaders in Calcutta about Mahato’s activities, he replied: “He is part of our party, and we will certainly inform our leadership about the developments here.”

There are two narratives within Trinamool relating to the leadership conflict in Jungle Mahal.

One group of the party in Jhargram believes that Mahato has no authorisation from the top leadership in Calcutta. The other group believes that the party has been tolerating Mahato’s activities to keep competition alive between the two factions.

Jhargram BJP president Tufan Mahata said Trinamool was rocked by “personal politics”, and voters would give it “a fitting reply”.