New Delhi: In a precursor to their grand merger plan, six political constituents of the erstwhile Janata Parivar will share a common platform tomorrow to corner the Narendra Modi government over various issues including its "failure" to fulfil election promises.
Sources said that while the grand merger of the former constituents could take time, the beginning would be made with the merger of Lalu Prasad's RJD and Nitish Kumar's JD-U, the process for which will kick-start soon after the Monday moorings.
"Elections are scheduled in Bihar next year and the urgency to put up a united fight against a resurgent BJP is more there than in Uttar Pradesh or Karnataka, where SP and Janata Dal (Secular) may not be in a hurry," said a senior JD-U leader who declined to be identified.
Assembly election will be held in UP in 2017. Since former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Presidents of JD-U and RJD Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad will be here on Monday, serious talks regarding the merger of the two parties to signal the grand alliance will gain urgency, the leader said.
After facing a complete rout at the hands of the BJP-led alliance in Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, JDU-RJD and Congress contested the Assembly bye-elections held a few months back recovering lost ground to a large extent.
JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, a prime mover behind the unity moves, said yesterday that the December 22 'Mahadharna' in New Delhi would be the "first solid step" for merger but no timeline could be fixed for it.
The programme being organised to "expose the BJP would also be the "first solid step" towards the merger of six parties. The move under wraps for months was made public last month where SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hosted a lunch for leaders of five political parties - Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Indian National Lok Dal, SJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal - at his residence in New Delhi, which was attended by Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, JD(S) leader H.D Deve Gowda, INLD's Dushyant Chautala and SJP's Kamal Morarka.
All these leaders will be present in the "Mahadharna" being organised at Jantar Mantar.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Raj Lakshmi is getting married to SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's grandson and Lok Sabha member Tej Pratap Yadav, which also gives a personal touch to the political alliance.
Noting that a united fight by Janata Parivar was needed to challenge the BJP, Prasad had a few days back said, "It is a permanent alliance. We have been missing it for long.Now it has been cemented."
The issues on which leaders will speak during the agitation may include blackmoney and the performance of the NDA government on bringing it back and its performance regarding employment generation for youths.
