Janata Parivar merger will prove destructive for BJP: Nitish

Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for its comments on Janata Parivar merger, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that the coming together of the six parties will prove to be ‘destructive’ for the saffron party.

"The BJP does not know that the merger, of which they are making fun, will prove to be destructive for them. In fact, their leaders are not poking fun, they are displaying fear present in their subconscious minds due to the merger," Kumar said.

Kumar was speaking to media persons at Patna airport on his arrival from New Delhi after attending the merger of the Janata Dal-United, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal-Secular, the Indian National Lok Dal and the Samajwadi Janata Party.

The merger of these six parties, which were originally part of the Janata Dal that swept the 1989 Lok Sabha polls, was declared at SP President Mulayam Singh Yadav's residence in New Delhi.

The name, flag and symbol of the new party will be announced later.

"The BJP is saying that there is still some hindrance in merger. But the fact is that it is worried from its core due to it," Kumar claimed. The chief minister said all the parties collectively decided that Mulayam Singh Yadav will be the president of the new party.

"A committee consisting of the presidents of all the six parties has been formed. It will chalk out the schedule to finalise everything related to the new party. It will decide on the name, policy, programme, flag, symbol of the new party.

The decisions will be taken collectively," he added. Responding to questions regarding time frame of declaring the name and symbol of the party, Kumar said Yadav will take initiative to call meetings, deliberate over the issues and take further action.

He allayed fears that the merger will have any negative effect on the functioning of the Bihar government.  The government will keep working as usual. It will work determinedly on the agenda of development and good governance. It will keep serving the state," he added.