Started with much fanfare and affirmatives, birth of a new party—Jan Vikas Party—has started looking shaky in store itself.
While one of the many cogs of the merger plan in the form of the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) has already walked into Mulayam Singh Yadav’s camp in Uttar Pradesh, JD(U) and JVM are also not much hopeful about this at present.
leaders of the JD (U) and JVM, the two main flag-bearers of the proposed unified political outfit, obviously against the mighty BJP, have blamed shaky and unreliable partners for the unsuccessful attempt second in a row.
“Ajit Singh is now a forgotten history for us. We tried our best to form a non-BJP bloc but he chose something different. His going the other way is not our fault but the effort got a hit due to unreliable and unpredictable members,” KC Tyagi, JD(U) secretary general and spokesperson told The Pioneer on Thursday.
The idea, a brainchild of Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, had gained momentum during March-April this year. JVM supremo Babulal Marandi had even visited Nitish in Patna and said to have completed all formalities in this regard. KC Tyagi had even approached the Election Commission apprising the apex election management body about the development.
Nonetheless, the plan received a setback first in the want of sufficient able and dependable allies willing to come together under a single flag and banner and later saw ‘partner’ Ajit Singh walking along with the Samajwadi Party in the light of next year’s Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. More worryingly for Nitish, he could not find any new partner willing to chip in since then.
Similar sentiments are prevailing in the Babulal Marandi-led party as well. “There is no further progress in this regard. However, there is no confusion between JD(U) and JVM but the sense we are getting that the formation of a new party is not possible in immediate future. Our leadership would have to look for other partners. We even believe that any announcement about the new party may be counter productive at this juncture,” said KK Poddar, JVM’s senior office bearer.
Hints about putting the merger plan on hold was very much there when Nitish addressed the JVM rally at Ranchi on May 23. He kept mum on this particular aspect and instead opted for ‘walking together’ with the JVM in Jharkhand. KC Tyagi also referred to this. “JD(U) has expressed willingness to work in tandem with the Babulalji and the relationship is growing. The ultimate goal is the formation of new party but we have kept our fingers crossed for that,” saidTyagi.
The plan is also being perceived as a tonic crucial to arrest the sliding political clout of Babulal Marandi in Jharkhand besides, projecting Nitish Kumar as the Prime Ministerial candidate before 2019 general elections. Unfortunately, a similar attempt by Nitish Kumar had failed on earlier occasion when he had approached regional stalwarts from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal and others to counter the surging BJP before the 2014 polls.