No hurdles to Janata merger: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said there was no technical hurdles coming in the way of the merger of the Janata Parivar, contradicting the Samajwaid Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, who had opposed merger till the Bihar assembly polls on technical grounds.

"I don’t see any technical issue coming in the way but if there is some problem on this count, it can be discussed in the meeting of the party," Kumar told reporters on Monday. "SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav has said something on the merger, but that is only his opinion, it is not a decision. Even Laluji has said he was in favour of the merger," said Kumar, adding there is no question of going back on the issue of merger.

"Some confusion has been created following the SP leader’s comments. I will only suggest Mulayam Singhji to convene a meeting of the newly constituted seven-member committee to take whatever decision it has to take," said Kumar .



Other JD(U) leaders too don’t agree with the viewpoints of Ram Gopal. "Both Sharad Yadav and KC Tyagi recently called on the Election Commission, which clearly said there was no technical hitch in the merger. The EC told them the merged entity will become a national party and it will have the discretion to retain the cycle symbol of the Samajwadi Party," JD(U) sources told ET.

They claimed Ram Gopal was opposing the merger because his clout will take a hit in the new scheme of things. "The power dynamics within the Mulayam Singh’s family will be altered following the merger. Ram Gopal will instead prefer status quo in the existing power dynamics," JD(U) sources said. They added that the distribution of assets of the Janata Parivar constituents post merger is not a serious issue.