Kolkata, Oct 24 (IANS): Rebel Congress leader and Calcutta High Court lawyer, Kaustav Bagchi, who represents the diehard anti-Trinamool Congress faction in state Congress, has given an open support to 'No Vote to Mamata' tagline coined by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari.

“There is a need for an alternative to replace the current Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal. And ‘No Vote to Mamata’ is the only alternative,” Bagchi said.

However, he was not specific on what exactly would be that alternative. Meanwhile, the 'No Vote to Mamata' tagline coined by the Leader of the Opposition has two factors. The first factor is to give an indirect call to people to vote for the strongest opponent of Trinamool Congress or rather vote for anyone except the ruling party in the state.

The second aspect is to constantly give calls to disgruntled leaders and workers in both Congress and CPI(M) to either join BJP directly or jointly form an independent anti-Trinamool Congress forum.

However, Bagchi till date had not revealed what among the two alternatives suggested by the leader of the opposition he will adopt, in case there is a last moment Congress-TMC understanding in West Bengal for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Since the formation of a grand opposition INDIA bloc, Bagchi had been most vocal about any understanding with Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. He had also been the most critical voice against senior advocate-leaders in the party like P Chidambaram and Abhishek Manu Singhvi for representing West Bengal government or Trinamool Congress leaders at Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court.

He had been constantly claiming that sympathetic statements by a section of Congress’ central leadership towards different Trinamool Congress leaders against whom there are charges of involvement in corruption had been creating confusion among the grassroots-level Congress workers in the state.