After several false starts, the parties constituting the erstwhile Janata Parivar are again on course for a merger.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be elected president of the Janata Dal (United) at its national executive meeting in Delhi on April 10.
He will set in motion the formalities for effecting its merger with the Ajit Singhled Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), the Samajwadi Janata Party, headed by Kamal Morarka, and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), led by Babulal Marandi.
Initially aimed at consolidating forces before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, the larger aim is to provide an alternative anti-BJP forum for various political parties, with Mr. Kumar at the helm. At the JD (U) national executive, president Sharad Yadav will make way for Mr. Kumar.
“On April 23, the party will have a national council in Patna, where Nitishji will be authorised to take decisions on the merger,” said a senior office-bearer of the JD(U).
“The constituent parties met the Election Commission a few weeks ago and it said resolutions endorsing the merger should be passed from the mandal level of all these parties for it to take place,” the leader said. “Kamal Morarka is holding his party’s executive on April 12 and we expect others will follow suit this month,” he said.
The JD(U) is also hoping that the symbol for this unified entity would be Mr. Morarka’s current symbol, ‘Banyan Tree’. “This was the symbol of the old Socialist Party headed by Ram Manohar Lohia, and we hope we get this,” said the leader.
