The Tufanganj subdivision of the Cooch Behar district has been rocked by clashes between two groups of the Trinamul Congress.

The violence that is the fallout of an alleged attempt to gain control of the area by the two lobbies prompted police to detain around 16 Trinamul supporters.

Two groups, one headed by Majibur Rehman, Trinamul president of Deocharai panchayat, and the other by Farooque Mondal, his predecessor, clashed at Chulkanir Bazar on Sunday evening.

Supporters of both the groups assembled with bricks, rods, stones and sharp weapons on Monday and clashed again. Two vehicles and some motorcycles were vandalised and supporters of the two factions suffered injuries.

A police team reached the spot and dispersed the warring people.

A number of Trinamul supporters, including Mondal and Rehman, were detained and whisked away to Tufanganj police station.

Factionalism in Trinamul was one of the reasons for the party’s debacle in the 2019 general election in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat.

Senior Trinamul leaders, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has time and again asked district party functionaries and their followers to refrain from the infighting.

“But the local leaders paid no heed to the directives. It is good that the police have taken action. We believe steps like arrest and registering police cases against them for triggering violence would discourage them to some extent. Also, it would send a good message to common people, who are disappointed with recurrence of violence,” said a senior Trinamul leader.