Chowdhury has said that the formation of a parallel working committee by Jamiat’s ousted president Maulana Arshad Madani or further expansion of this new faction in Bengal will be dealt with by the state leadership.

Maulana Arshad was removed from the post of the president by the Jamiat’s central working committee on March 6 for allegedly taking decisions that were unconstitutional as per the organisation’s rules and guidelines.

He then formed a new working committee, sowing seeds of a split within the party. Jamiat’s general secretary and Arshad’s nephew Maulana Mahmood Madani has announced that further action will be initiated against the new faction in the general body meeting scheduled for March 26.

In West Bengal, the Jamiat has lately been building up a political base in the districts dominated by minorities and backward classes through its political wing — the People’s Democratic Conference of India (PDCI). The state Jamiat leadership claims a membership of 8 lakh followers.

After Jamiat’s campaigns in Nandigram against land acquisition by the state government came into the limelight last year, it now wants to test its political strength in the state by contesting the coming panchayat elections with the PDCI.

But the move by Maulana Arshad can have severe political repercussions. Chowdhury, however, has said that his faction will not hit the ongoing anti-CPM movement in the state.