16 Ashoka road may be the witness of six paties historical merger

janjivan Bureau
New Delhi: 16 Ashoka road the residece of Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav may be the witness of historical merger of six parties. The upcoming Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections may be the litmus test of new party.
Bihar polls are scheduled to be held later this year whereas elections in Uttar Pradesh Assembly are slated for 2017.
Notably, the announcement of the big merger will be made a day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah sounded the poll bugle by launching a campaign for the upcoming Assembly Elections in Bihar.
Shah mocked at the proposed merger of the ‘Janata Parivar’ ahead of the elections, saying “zero plus zero remains a zero” and asserted nobody can prevent the saffron party from coming to power in the state.
As per reports, a formal announcement of the new entity to be named either Samajwadi Janata Party of Samajwadi Janata Dal with cycle as its symbol is set to be made today after a meeting at Mulayam Sing Yadav’s residence.
To attend the meet, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a key face of the grand alliance, has already arrived in the national capital yesterday evening, reports said.
Nitish Kumar has been a driving force behind the merger, at least between the RJD and the JD(U) in Bihar, as he feels the numerical strength of both parties need to be together to take on the BJP in Bihar, according to reports.
Besides the Bihar CM, Samajwadi Party chief Mualyam Singh Yadav’s brother Ramgopal Yadav. D(U) chief Sharad Yadav, its general secretary KC Tyagi, JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister HD Devegowda, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Janata Party chief Kamal Morarka and INLD leader Dushyant Chautala are expected to attended the merger meet.
However, sources said that after discussions, there is an agreement that the new entity will retain the cycle symbol of Samajwadi Party.
On April 5, RJD chief Lalu Prasad had given the slogan of “Ek Jhanda, Ek Nishan” (one flag, one symbol), almost announcing the merger and had dared the BJP to come to Bihar.
“As far as Janata Parivar, the six parties are concerned, their merger has happened and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will formally announce it because he has been authorised for it.