Janata Parivar merger not possible before Bihar polls: Samajwadi Party

NEW DELHI: In a move that could spell doom for the Janata Parivar, senior Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav has said the merger was unlikely to take place before the Bihar assembly elections.

“The Janata Parivar merger is not possible before the Bihar assembly polls due to technical issues with the Election Commission and the question mark over the symbol,” Yadav said, setting off a flutter in the socialist ranks.

“If parties write to the EC that they are going to merge and form a new party, then the original names and symbols will be frozen. This can create confusion in Bihar during the assembly polls,” he told ET. “We will be signing the death warrant of the Janata Parivar if we do the merger in a hurry.” The term of the Bihar assembly ends in November.

Yadav’s statements may reflect the unease in SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family over the merger. Yadav, his brother Shivpal and even senior leader Azam Khan reportedly feel the Lalu Prasad-Nitish Kumar combination has more to gain from the merger than the SP, which seems to have recovered political ground in Uttar Pradesh.

“There are Rajya Sabha elections next year from Uttar Pradesh. In a merged entity, both Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar may push their nominees,” said a top source in the party. “Mulayam Singhji’s brothers are dominating the SP, but what will happen when there is one party?”