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Six political parties of the Janata Parivar (family) came together to present a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre during the winter session of Parliament and have not ruled out the possibility of a merger in future to take on the resurgent party.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hosted a lunch for leaders of five political parties - JD(U), JD(S), INLD, SJP and RJD - at his New Delhi residence. JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda, INLD's Dushyant Chautala and SJP's Kamal Morarka attended the lunch.
Though Mulayam was the host, he sent former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to brief the media. Kumar told media the parties decided to unite to raise issues of public importance and speak in a common voice in the Parliament. Thanking Mulayam for the "initiative", he said the parties, which were part of the Janata Parivar, decided to work together on the principle of unity.
Responding to questions on the possible merger to further their electoral prospects, Kumar did not rule out such a possibility. "The answer to this lies in the future...we can move towards one party (Hum ek party ki taraf badh sakte hain)," he said.
Mulayam's cousins Shivpal Singh and Ram Gopal and JD (U)'s K C Tyagi accompanied Kumar during the briefing. To a question why Congress party, also an Opposition party, was not invited, Kumar said they did not discuss Congress. Asked why the Left was kept out of the deliberations, Kumar said political parties "who share our views on certain issues will be contacted. We are open to dialogues."
Kumar said TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's role in the new grouping was also discussed but no decision was taken. Incidentally, there was no representation from Ajit Singh's RLD which was once a part of the larger Janata family.
