Janata merger not to be announced on April 5: Nitish Kumar

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said merger of six parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar was on course but denied any dates for the announcement of the unification.

According to the media reports, the six parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar were likely to announce their merger on Sunday (April 5) following a meeting in which the name of the new political entity and its symbol will be decided.

"April 5 has not been finalised for announcement of the merger of the Janata Parivar parties. The date will be decided by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, authorised to see modalities of the merger," Kumar said in a function at the Jagjivan Ram Research Centre in Patna.

"RJD president Lalu Prasad will be in Patna because of the national executive committee of his party on April 5, so the question of announcement of Janata Parivar unification on April 5 does not arise," Kumar, the man behind the move to merge the six parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar, said.

The six parties involved in merger are Samajwadi Party, RJD, JD(U), INLD, Samajwadi Janata Party and JD(S) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

Bihar RJD president Ramchandra Purbe said that party's national executive meeting on April 5 would discuss the issues related to merger and take stock of current political situation prevailing in the country.

Asked about possibility of announcement of Janata Parivar on April 5, Purbe said as per his information there would be a meeting of the Samajwadi Party in Delhi on that day.

In a reply to a question on expelled JD(U) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi eyeing JD(U)'s arrow symbol in the event of merger, Kumar said greedy people do not get anything ultimately.

With election of Bihar Assembly due later this year, the efforts at merger has gained momentum. Recently, Nitish Kumar during his stay at Delhi held a meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Om Prakash Chautala and Sharad Yadav to speed up the exercise. Bihar poll would be the first test of the united Janata Parivar to take on BJP.