Angry over Kolkata poll deal, Cong’s own rough up Pranab

Later, addressing a press conference, Pranab Mukherjee termed the incident as ‘‘unfortunate’’.

‘‘But such things do happen in politics,’’ he said.

The incident, which brought into the open sharp differences within the party over the tie-ups ahead of the polls, took place around 12.30 pm when Mukherjee arrived at Bidhan Bhavan, the office of the state PCC. He was to announce the party’s list of candidates for the June 19 polls.

But as he walked into the complex accompanied by PCC working president Pradip Bhattacharya, the 50 workers, holding a protest meeting there, accosted them before zeroing in on Mukherjee.

In the melee that ensued, even reporters were not spared, with one receiving a blow on his eye.

The workers were upset over the Congress command ‘‘sacrificing’’ Ward No. 55 for Subrata’s faction. The Mayor had split from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress to form the United Democratic Alliance—with the Congress and eight other parties—for the KMC polls.

According to party sources, the ward was ‘‘given’’ to Mayor Subrata’s group in exchange for another ward (No. 48) as part of a pre-poll deal last night.

But Swapan Das, a Congress worker who was addressing the gathering of over 50 today, alleged that the deal went against the wishes of workers, who had already started campaigning in Ward 55 for their choice—the wife of a local leader.