Janata Parivar merger likely soon

Socialists scattered across the country are soon to unite under the umbrella of a political party, likely to be known as either Samajwadi Janata Dal or Samajwadi Janata Party.

“The merger is on track,” Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav told BusinessLine .

Although he underlined that specific issues such as the party symbol and what it is likely to be called are “yet to be decided”, sources said discussions are veering towards adopting either the chakra or the Samajwadi Party’s bicycle as party symbol.

The parties that are likely to be united under one symbol include Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal, Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United), Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal and HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular). An important meeting to sort out last-minute issues just before announcing the merger has been called at Mulayam’s Delhi residence on April 5.

He is expected to arrive here either on Wednesday night or Thursday morning for the purpose. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar will also be arriving, possibly on April 4.

There were apprehensions earlier about opposition from senior leaders in the SP over the merger.

However, Mulayam has been the most proactive in ironing out various issues among the leaders.

“Mulayam Singh Yadav was the one who kept insisting that Nitish Kumar should resume charge as Chief Minister (of Bihar). He used to call Nitish almost every day,” said a source.

The main agenda of this reunification after almost two decades of infighting is to jointly fight the resurgent BJP.

“We will show them their place in Bihar (where Assembly elections are scheduled for later this year). And after Bihar, they will face an uphill task in Uttar Pradesh.

“The reason why the BJP and Narendra Modi have succeeded is that the secular forces have so far been divided. Now we know that we have a common enemy and we have to jointly fight them,” said a JD(U) leader.

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