Ramgopal Yadav tasked with finalizing legalese of Janata merger

NEW DELHI: A day after announcing the merger of Janata Parivar, Mulayam Singh Yadav tasked his brother Ramgopal with working out the legal process required to clinch the unification of six parties under one banner.
The Samajwadi Party leader is likely to meet the election watchdog in the coming days to kick start the final phase of merger. Each Janata splinter is required to hold meetings at district, state and, if required, national level and pass a resolution assenting to the merger.
“These meetings are likely to happen in the coming 2-3 days,” JD(U) MP K C Tyagi, who has been part of the discussions, said.
The urgency amid perennial scepticism about the egoistic Janata outfits with a fissiparous past marks another reassurance to the pro-unity camp, the first coming in the joint announcement by Mulayam-Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad on Wednesday.
If even the public statement left a lingering uncertainty about the merger, it was because of the failure to announce the symbol, flag and name of the proposed outfit as also the absence of Ramgopal, said to be anti-unity, from the meeting. In this backdrop, the handing of the procedural formalities to Ramgopal is seen as a bid to quell the doubts.
A senior leader involved in the process claimed the decision on flag, symbol and name had been taken and would be announced soon. While the new outfit is likely to be called Samajwadi Janata Dal, it would adopt the “cycle” symbol of Samajwadi Party and also its flag (green-red band).
What seems to be topping the priority is the head of the Bihar unit. Given that merger is driven by the compulsions of Bihar elections and that would be-colleagues Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad would have their preferences for state chief, the announcement is said to be important from the point of giving a positive start to the new party. “The flag and symbol would be announced along with the party’s policy statement and the name of the Bihar chief,” a leader said.
There has not been any discussion on the tricky issue of who would head the party in Rajya Sabha for which JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and Ramgopal are contenders. With the merger likely to take some time, the second leg of the budget session may see SP, JD(U), RJD, INLD and JD(S) work as a group with joint action. Mulayam will head the grouping of the combined strength of 15 MPs in Lok Sabha.