Janata Parivar merger likely by weekend

Mulayam, mandated to talk to leaders of six entities, has finished negotiations

March 31, 2015 04:02 am | Updated December 04, 2021 11:28 pm IST - New Delhi

The Janata parivar’s first actions will be to draw up an agitational programme against the Modi government’s Land Bill. Leaders of the parivar (from right) Mulayam Singh, Sharad Yadav, H.D. Deve Gowda, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar at a meeting in December 2014. File photo

The Janata parivar’s first actions will be to draw up an agitational programme against the Modi government’s Land Bill. Leaders of the parivar (from right) Mulayam Singh, Sharad Yadav, H.D. Deve Gowda, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar at a meeting in December 2014. File photo

The Janata Parivar hopes to present itself as a single political party in the second half of the budget session of Parliament that will commence on April 20, top Janata Dal (United) sources told The Hindu .

If it succeeds, it will have 15 MPs in the Lok Sabha, making it the eighth largest party in the Lower House, with double that number — 30 MPs — in the Rajya Sabha, representing Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Karnataka.

By weekend, these sources said, the merger of six parties — the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the JD (U), the Indian National Lok Dal, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Samajwadi Janata Party — is likely to take place, with SP supremo Mulayam Singh the leader of the new party, and its emblem, the SP symbol, the bicycle.

Mr. Mulayam Singh, who was mandated to talk to the leaders of these six entities, has completed his negotiations: he is scheduled to be here on Tuesday when the processes that have to be followed ahead of the formal merger will begin.

The initial talks began in early November last year, and a month later, the leaders of these six parties entrusted the SP leader with working out the modalities.

The parties keenest to fast-forward the merger were the JD (U) and the RJD as they wished to strengthen themselves ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for later this year in Bihar.

However, the internal problems within the JD (U) resulting from Jitan Ram Manjhi refusing to step down as Chief Minister of the eastern State and returning the baton to Nitish Kumar delayed the process.

Now that problem has been partially resolved with Mr. Kumar once again Chief Minister of Bihar — partially, because the breakaway Manjhi faction will erode some of the JD (U)’s base.

The other reason for the delay was the wedding that brought the families of Mr. Mulayam Singh and RJD boss Lalu Prasad together, when the former’s grandnephew wed the latter’s youngest daughter.

Now that is all over, and it is back to politics.

And one of the Janata parivar’s first actions will be to draw up an agitational programme to oppose the Modi government’s Land Bill in the States where it has a presence.

The initial impetus for the merger came from the belief that the Congress had all but vacated the Opposition space, as well as approaching Assembly elections in Bihar and U.P., where the JD (U) and the SP are currently in power. Assembly elections in Bihar are due later this year and in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

The Janata experiment: From The Hindu archives

October 21, 2014

>Janata Parivar losing its touch with Mandal politics

Finishes way behind in Haryana as the BJP outplays it in social engineering

October 2, 2014

>Signs of Janata Parivar taking shape

Though not a Third Front yet, there are signs that the Janata Parivar — and some of its old friends — shaken out of its lethargy by this year’s general election results, is tentatively working towards creating an anti-BJP platform.

August 21, 2010

>JD(S) all set to lure back Janata Parivar members

February 6, 2007

>Gowda blamed for breaking Janata Parivar

President of the Karnataka unit of the Janata Dal (U) B. Somashekar said that Janata Dal (S) president H.D. Deve Gowda, who was primarily responsible for the division of the Janata Parivar has no moral right to talk about uniting the Janata Parivar once again.

January 29, 2007

>JD(S) to work for unification of Janata Parivar: Deve Gowda

“I am willing to shed my ego, if any, and even step down from the presidentship of the party... ”

May 6, 2006

>Sharad Yadav vows to unite Janata Parivar

President of the Janata Dal (United) and former Union Minister Sharad Yadav said that he would make efforts to unite splinter groups of the Janata Dal, including the Janata Dal (Secular) headed by H.D. Deve Gowda.

April 14, 2004

>CPI(M) accuses Congress, BJP of keeping Janata Parivar divided

February 25, 2004

>Janata Parivar will come together: Swamy

Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, said that the decision of the All-India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD) to contest the elections on the JP symbol was the beginning of the coming together of the Janata Parivar to "revive the spirit of 1977 once again."

July 4, 2003

>JD(S), JD(U) agree to merge ‘unconditionally’

In a significant political development in Hassan, the leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the JD (United) agreed to merge their parties at the Karnataka level.

January 4, 2003

>Pawar optimistic on merger of Janata Dal factions

The President of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sharad Pawar, has said that the consolidation of a third front was the need of the hour in the light of the poll outcome in Gujarat and the Congress's outlook in the recent elections.

December 1, 2001

>Efforts on to unite Janata ‘parivar’

Efforts to reunite various factions of the Janata Parivar — the Samata Party, the Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti — aligned with the National Democratic Alliance, have been intensified with an eye on the elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

January 8, 2001

>Janata parivar: Another split

The Samata Party, yet another splinter group that emerged out of the grand alliance of non-Congress forces — the Janata experiment — has split once again.

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