New Delhi: Ahead of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, the long-awaited merger of the six parties from the erstwhile Janata Parivar is all set to take place on Wednesday, under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Bihar polls are scheduled to be held later this year whereas elections in Uttar Pradesh Assembly are slated for 2017.
Notably, the announcement of the big merger will be made a day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah sounded the poll bugle by launching a campaign for the upcoming Assembly Elections in Bihar.
Shah mocked at the proposed merger of the 'Janata Parivar' ahead of the elections, saying "zero plus zero remains a zero" and asserted nobody can prevent the saffron party from coming to power in the state.
As per reports, a formal announcement of the new entity to be named either Samajwadi Janata Party of Samajwadi Janata Dal with cycle as its symbol is set to be made today after a meeting at Mulayam Sing Yadav's residence.
To attend the meet, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a key face of the grand alliance, has already arrived in the national capital yesterday evening, reports said.
Nitish Kumar has been a driving force behind the merger, at least between the RJD and the JD(U) in Bihar, as he feels the numerical strength of both parties need to be together to take on the BJP in Bihar, according to reports.
Besides the Bihar CM, Samajwadi Party chief Mualyam Singh Yadav's brother Ramgopal Yadav. D(U) chief Sharad Yadav, its general secretary KC Tyagi, JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister HD Devegowda, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Janata Party chief Kamal Morarka and INLD leader Dushyant Chautala are expected to attended the merger meet.
However, sources said that after discussions, there is an agreement that the new entity will retain the cycle symbol of Samajwadi Party.
On April 5, RJD chief Lalu Prasad had given the slogan of "Ek Jhanda, Ek Nishan" (one flag, one symbol), almost announcing the merger and had dared the BJP to come to Bihar.
"As far as Janata Parivar, the six parties are concerned, their merger has happened and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will formally announce it because he has been authorised for it.
"Merger means merger. There should be no doubts about it. Only one symbol and no other shall remain because different symbols will create confusion among the public.We will also ask other secular parties to join the new party to combat communalism," PTI quoted Lalu Prasad Yadav as saying.
The very next day, the leaders of these off-shoot outfits of Janata Parivar had come to the national capital to pay homage to former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, a prominent leader of the grouping and Lok Dal founder, on his death anniversary.
The merger of the former Janata Parivar parties had been in the offing following their disastrous performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The ruling Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh, won just five seats in the Lok Sabha polls while Nitish Kumar's JD(U), the ruling party in Bihar, won only two.
The merger is seen as a big achievement for Mulayam Singh Yadav who has been making several attempts to stitch together a Third Front of non-Congress and non-BJP parties.
Reports also said the Janata Parivar - in what should be a cause for concern to the Narendra Modi-led NDA government - is the first item on their agenda after unification - the launch of a nationwide stir against proposed amendments to the Land Acquisition Law.
(With Agency inputs)
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