Nitish downplays SP leader’s remark on Janata Parivar merger

With questions being raised over the fate of Janata Parivar merger following comment by a senior Samajwadi Party leader, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the decision of the merger has already been taken and there was no question of going back on it.

“A decision for merger of six parties in Janata Parivar has already been taken and there is no question of going back on it,” Kumar told reporters in a bid to clear the cloud of uncertainty over unified Janata Party.

Kumar, who has been playing a significant role in the unification exercise, did not give much credence to comments by senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav who had yesterday said the merger into Janata Parivar was not possible before Bihar Assembly polls and any such move now would amount to signing the ‘death warrant’ of his own party.

“In democracy everybody has a right to speak but the fact is that there is no irritant in the merger of Janata Parivar now,” Kumar said emerging from “Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri” programme. He said things were going in the “right path” to sort out technicalities of the process and a favourable result would emerge before everybody soon.