Pathanamthitta: Trade union rivalry between CITU and AITUC spilled over on Friday with members of CPM and CPI clashing on the MC Road at Adoor.

Traffic was disrupted along the busy route for nearly 30 minutes as the cadre of the two Left parties came to blows in broad daylight at the High School Junction.

According to reports, tension was building up between the trade unions for the past few days.

Recently, eight of the nine loading workers in the region, who were members of CITU, the trade union affiliated to CPM, had joined AITUC that is part of CPI.

They had alleged improper wage distribution as the reason for switching allegiance. The move had reportedly upset CPM and two of the eight workers were beaten up.
This led to a war of words between the two sets of comrades, which ended in a street fight.