In an effort to counter the political might of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Parivar has decided to merge and the deal is almost finalised. With the union of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal United ( JD-U), Janata Dal Secular (JD-S) - the political alliance aims to counter the BJP on a national stage starting with Bihar elections scheduled later in 2015.
The alliance will be led by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday said, " RJD is ready for the merger and Mulayam Singh will make the announcement soon."
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal said everything has been decided and there is no fight about anything. "Everything is almost decided. Everyone has accepted Mulayam Singh as their leader. The Janta Dal parivar is almost made, just need to wait for the Election Commission's nod. The flag, symbol and everything else has been decided. There is no fight about anything."
In the Lok Sabha, the SP has five members, RJD four, and JDU, JD (S) and INLD two each. In total they have 15 members in the Lower House. While in the Rajya Sabha, the SP leads the pack with 15 members, the JD-U has 12 and INLD, JD(S) and RJD one each. Their total number in the Upper House is 30.
With their back to the wall after the Narendra Modi juggernaut decimated them particularly JDU, RJD and SP in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the six constituents of the Janata Parivar, including INLD, JDS and Samajwadi Janata Party, decided to turn the clock back and come together to fight a resurgent BJP.
The parties, once a part of Janata Party, had unseated the Indira Gandhi-led Congress from power in 1977 and they have come together and fallen apart a number of times in past under different nomenclatures.
