Leaders with 'naked family ambitions' have come under Janata fold: BJP

NEW DELHI: Attacking the parties re-uniting under the umbrella of ' Janata Parivar', BJP today said "naked family ambitions" have forced these leaders to come together and take shelter under Ram Manohar Lohia's ideology.

The BJP also took a dig at these parties that got united and broke away several times in the past, saying "they cannot remain together for two-three years and also cannot remain separated for more than a year".

"I have great personal regard for Ram Manohar Lohia for his integrity and commitment to India... But now naked family ambitions have come to represent his views," Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

He said BJP has no problem even if more parties come under the Janata umbrella, citing "another story on disciples of Lohia's ideology, that they cannot remain together for two-three years and they cannot remain separate for more than one year."

Prasad criticised former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is believed to be the architect of the formation, asking "how he (Kumar) will bring good governance while uniting with Lalu Prasad in Bihar."

In a move aimed at consolidation of opposition forces, six constituents of the erstwhile ' Janata Parivar' will soon become one party as their leaders had yesterday authorised Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to work out the "modalities" in that direction.

In their first joint action outside Parliament, SP, Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party will hold a 'dharna' here on December 22 against government's "failure" to bring back black money stashed abroad, its alleged U-turn on farmers' issue and rising unemployment.

Seeking to dispel any ambiguity as to the proposed merger, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar had said that all of them felt there should be "one party" as they have the same philosophy and principles.

Asked whether the move to join forces was borne of a 'fear of Narendra Modi', Kumar said it was not the case but the aim was to form a platform in the current political atmosphere. He said the six parties would like to work in tandem with entities like the Left Front, which would be approached.