The merger move of Janata outfits may soon be junked formally with Samajwadi Party taking the stand that its six parties would retain their separate identities in an umbrella alliance.
Senior sources in Samajwadi Party which has been the driver for bringing together Janata offshoots -SP, RJD, JD(U), H D Devegowda's JD (S), O P Chautala's INLD - indicated that the extinction of separate identities is not desirable. Instead, these parties would form an alliance like NDA and UPA, having common strategy and goals without shuttering themselves as independent outfits.
The “merger” project, announced by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav as a done deal amid great fanfare, had run into the hurdle of inexplicable re-think on part of SP and RJD, and would not have been completed before the targeted deadline of Bihar polls set to be scheduled anytime after September. But the fresh indications from SP suggest that the project itself may be abandoned.
Problems were evident when a last-gasp effort for the merger of JD(U) and RJD before Bihar elections failed to achieve much, with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar failing to persuade Samajwadi Party boss Mulayam Singh to make a fresh effort to bring around RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
Sources familiar with the details of Nitish's conversation with Mulayam said while Mulayam, the putative head of Janata Parivar, claimed that he fully supported that the different offshoots of Janata Party merge into one to counter BJP, he did not seem to appreciate Bihar Chief Minister's urgency about the exercise.
Nitish, apprehensive that a split in “secular,” especially Muslim votes will help BJP in the coming Bihar elections, wants the merger process to be over in order to prevent “friendly fights.” Increasingly distrustful of Lalu who is reluctant to be goaded into shuttering RJD and has irked him by expressing the desire to enlist JD(U) rebel Jitan Ram Manjhi, Nitish feels that a seat-sharing pact will be inadequate and is pressing for the two parties to collapse into a common “secular” entity.
Significantly, in what is being seen as a reflection of the growing trust deficit between Bihar CM and RJD boss, Lalu was not present when Nitish spoke with Mulayam.
The conversation happened after disappointment in JD(U)'s ranks over the stand of SP and RJD that merger cannot happen before Bihar polls because of “technical reasons“.
