Trinamul Congress Factions Clash Over Garland for Kirti Azad During Election Campaign

When two opposing groups of the Trinamul Congress began fighting in front of Kirti Azad on Sunday over who would first garland him, the politician got a taste of the "enthusiasm" of the party's members in Bengal during his election campaign.

The 65-year-old former cricket player who had won the World Cup first attempted, but in vain, to calm down the two sparring groups. Sources said that he was shoved aside.

He had to be pulled from the scene by a few party leaders. When they got to a neighboring Kali temple, he sat there looking obviously sad.

At the Kali temple later, he performed puja and prayed, "Let good sense prevail."

Today's campaign stop for the Trinamul candidate running for the Burdwan-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat was the Amrai neighborhood under Ward 12 of Durgapur town.

When a party of Trinamul trade union members headed by Sheikh Sahabuddin arrived in Amrai with Azad, things got out of hand at approximately ten in the morning. To celebrate Azad, a different set of party leaders headed by Aminur Rahman, Sahabuddin's well-known adversary, were standing with garlands.

The supporters of Sahabuddin and Rahman wanted to garland the candidate first when Azad arrived. They began scuffling after getting into a fight over it. At first, Azad attempted to calm them down, but they shoved him away and engaged in a little altercation.

Later, senior party leader Prabhat Chatterjee and police officers on the scene intervened to calm things down, but by then, Azad was seen sitting on the temple's stairway with both hands on his head and seemed to be obviously agitated.

Later on, however, he told reporters that he was pleased to witness his party workers' excitement. The partygoers' over excitement was the only altercation that occurred. Everyone wanted to congratulate me. Azad said, "They all adore Mamata Banerjee."

Azad was called a "outsider" by the BJP, which used the event as a chance to make fun of Trinamul.

"Hopefully, Kirti Azad is beginning to understand what Trinamul and its employees are doing." He is not like the others. He must have realized the realities of both Bengal and Durgapur, according to Durgapur BJP MLA Lakkhan Ghorui.

Sahabuddin and Rahman, according to insiders in Trinamul, were at odds and had turned into competitors over who would lead the contract workers union at the Durgapur Steel Plant.

The recent takeover of the union by Sahabuddin heightened their antagonism. According to a Trinamul source, "They were genuinely attempting to demonstrate their strength in front of Azad."

According to sources, both groups have received warnings from the Durgapur party leadership not to repeat such episodes.

After being contacted, Sahabuddin promised to bring the issue up with the party's higher authorities.

Rahman declined to provide a statement.