Janata Parivar: Sharad Yadav says merger is a done deal

PATNA: JD(U) President Sharad Yadav today said the merger of erstwhile Janata Parivar constituents was a done deal and Mulayam Singh Yadav has been announced its President.

"Merger of six constituents of erstwhile Janata Party has already taken place and Mulayam Singh Yadav has been announced its President," Sharad Yadav told reporters here.

Replying to a question that there has been talks of possibility of alliance due to technical hitch in the merger exercise, Yadav rubbished it saying "Gathbandhan ki baat karna baimani hoge (talking about alliance will be dishonesty)."

When mediapersons asked him that confusion prevailed over merger after Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav recently said that there was "no possibility" of the merger happening before the Assembly polls, the JD(U) President said "whether somebody understands it or not the masses know that the merger has taken place".

Sharad Yadav is a member of the six-member committee, constituted in April to sort out issues like common flag and symbol, that would submit its recommendations to Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The JD(U) President is here in connection with a meeting of his party in the evening which would take up the issue of election to 24 seats of Bihar Legislative Council from local bodies in mid-July.

Nitish Kumar, an architect in bringing six parties together, had yesterday ruled out any technical hitch in the merger process and said he would suggest Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to convene a meeting of the merger committee to "clear the air".