6 Janata Parivar parties agree to become one; Mulayam to oversee merger

In a move aimed at consolidation of opposition forces, six constituents of the erstwhile 'Janata Parivar' will soon become one party as their leaders today 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.

The leaders of the six parties today "authorised" Mulayam at a meeting at his official residence to "work out modalities" for becoming one party through a merger, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar told reporters here.

Seeking to dispel any ambiguity as to the proposed merger, Kumar 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 that not the case but the aim was to form a platform in the current political atmosphere.

He said that the six parties would like to work in tandem with entities like the left Front, which would be approached. Kumar did not, however, elaborate further.