Calcutta, Feb. 24: Graffiti seeking support for the "jot (alliance)" came up and joint rallies were held across the state as CPM and Congress leaders today set the electoral understanding ball rolling on the ground.

" Haat haturi kaaste tara, Trinamul hobe Bangla chhara (With the hand holding the hammer and the sickle, Trinamul will be ousted from Bengal)," read a graffito in Birbhum's Rampurhat, referring to the Congress's hand symbol and the CPM's hammer and sickle.

The hammer and sickle insignia has been painted above the Congress symbol, a never-before sight in Bengal that captured the extent to which the two parties have come together in the state.

The graffito, created by Congress labour arm Intuc and exhorting people to vote for the democratic and secular candidates of the " jot", has become the talking point in political circles.

"During the CPM-Congress protest against the abduction of an Independent councillor of Kandi municipality last week, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury had said something on the lines of what has been written in the graffito. Wait for some more time, more such slogans will be coined," Congress general secretary Amitabha Bhattacharya said.

On Friday, Chowdhury had said: "Earlier, we only had the hand. Now the hammer is also with us. Together we will oust Mamata Banerjee from Bengal."

CPM sources said such slogans would help bring supporters of the two parties closer and it would be crucial for the transfer of votes.

"An electoral understanding at the top level need not always percolate down to the grassroots. That is why we are insisting on the frontal organisations of the CPM and the Congress holding joint programmes," a CPM state committee member said.

Graffiti and innovative slogans have been an integral part of Bengal's politics for decades.

In the days when political compulsions had not driven them into each other's arms, the CPM had coined slogans such as " Khoon rahajani korte chai amraa holam Congress (I) (We want to commit murder and robbery, we are the Congress (I))" and "Satya Seleucus ki bichitro e desh, raate Naxalbari , sakale Congress (You are right, Seleucus, how strange is this country. Naxalbari at night, Congress in the morning)".

Mamata Banerjee and some senior leaders of her party, too, had displayed their creative streak by coining catchy slogans such as " Chup chap phoole chhap (Vote silently for the flower symbol)" for the 1998 Lok Sabha polls and "Hoy ebaar noy never (Either this time or never) and " Badla noy badal chai (We don't want revenge but change)" for the 2011 Assembly elections. Trinamul plans to revive the "Chup chap phoole chhap" slogan for the Assembly elections this year.

No senior leader could recall any instance of the Congress and Trinamul sharing space on graffiti and banners when the two parties tied up for the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 Assembly elections. "Trinamul raised slogans. We, as the junior partner, followed them," a Congress MLA said.

A CPM leader recalled that the Left party and the Congress had a history of acrimony in Bengal in the past, but the rivalry was now "a thing of the past". He said the parties had planned joint movements.

CPM student wing SFI and the Congress's Chhatra Parishad today held joint rallies across the state to protest the police action on SFI members on the Burdwan University campus yesterday. The police had lathicharged SFI supporters protesting "faulty" BA Part II results.

CPM leader and former minister Kanti Ganguly and Congress state secretary Om Prakash Mishra walked a 6km stretch along with 5,000 supporters of both the parties in South 24-Parganas' Raidighi.

In Delhi, a Congress delegation met Election Commission officials. "We told them how Opposition workers are being assaulted, voters threatened and partisan officials deployed on poll duty. EC officials told us they were aware of the situation," said Congress veteran Abdul Mannan.