Byre Gowda, Siddaramaiah to hold talks

By S. Rajendran

BANGALORE, JAN. 6. The State Janata Dal (United), after dilly- dallying for the past several months, has now given its consent for a merger with the Janata Dal (Secular) although the whole exercise of formalising the merger will take a long time owing to the intricacies involved.

There was much bonhomie at the crucial Executive Committee meeting of the party here on Saturday and contrary to earlier expectations the meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere with hardly any dissent.

Sources in the Janata Dal told The Hindu that it was the changed stance of the former Chief Minister and senior Janata Dal (U) leader, Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde, and the State Janata Dal (U)

President, Mr. C.Byre Gowda, who all these months were vocal against the merger, which did the trick in favour of the merger move. The two leaders today approved the unification of the Janata Dal factions thus indicating that the present political circumstances in the State warranted a merger of like-minded political forces. The leaders and their large number of followers, apparently went by the majority opinion of the legislators.

Mr. Byre Gowda was authorised at the meeting to hold discussions with the State Janata Dal (S) President and former Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Siddaramaiah, on the merger modalities. Mr. Byre Gowda would be assisted by a 15- member team of senior leaders (a large number of them being former ministers in the J.H.Patel and Deve Gowda Cabinets), which would go into various aspects of the merger including that of sharing party positions.

The Janata Dal sources said the meetings between Mr. Byre Gowda and Mr. Siddaramaiah would pave the way for the meeting between the former Prime Minister, Mr. H.D.Deve Gowda, JD(S) President, and Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde. While the meetings between the State presidents of the two parties would aim at arriving at a working relationship, the meeting of the two senior leaders would result in the formalisation of the merger.

It was the run-up to the State Executive Committee meeting which warded off what would have otherwise resulted in ugly clashes at the crucial meeting today.

The prime architects of the merger moves were the floor leader of the party in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. P.G.R.Sindhia, and the former Minister, Mr. M.P.Prakash.

They were believed to have worked overtime in moulding the opinion of all the legislators and this apparently prompted Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde and Mr. Byre Gowda to accept the idea of a merger with the Janata Dal (S).

Sources in the party said that ``but for the manner in which they worked out their strategy for the day,'' there was every possibility that Mr. Sindhia and Mr. Prakash could have even attracted expulsion from the party.

They had even roped in the pontiffs of the well-known Veerashaiva Maths to voice their concern against the split in the Janata Dal and the need for a merger of the two factions. However, the State Janata Dal (U) now faces a difficult situation in terms of its relationship with the national unit, and consequently with the National Democratic Alliance. The Janata Dal (S) has categorically said that the Janata Dal (U) should pull out of the NDA before the merger could be formalised.

The belief was that, the changing political equations at the national level starting with the split in the Samata Party would work out in favour of the merger of the two Janata Dal factions at the State level and, consequently, there was no need for any worry over the demand of the Janata Dal (S).

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