New Delhi:  Six parties that were once part of what was called the Janata Parivar have announced that they will merge to form a national party headed by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mulayam Singh's party, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United, Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular), the Indian National Lok Dal and the Samajwadi Janata Party of Kamal Morarka will merge.

Janata Dal United leader Sharad Yadav announced the merger, with Mulayam Singh by his side, after a meeting at the latter's Delhi residence. Sharad Yadav said Mulayam Singh Yadav will be the chairman of the new party and will also head the parliamentary party.

Sharad Yadav said decisions on a name for the new party and an election symbol will be taken after more consultations. There has been speculation that the party could be called the Samajwadi Janata Party or Samajwadi Janata Dal and have as an election symbol the Samajwadi Party's cycle.

Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav attended the meeting. The first big test for the party will be the Bihar elections later this year, where the two stalwarts, bitter rivals for years, will together take on a BJP determined to add the state to its kitty.

The BJP began an early campaign in Bihar on Tuesday, with party chief Amit Shah declaring, "I want to tell Lalu Yadav and Nitish, a zero plus zero is always equal to zero. So no matter what you do, the BJP will win the upcoming elections in Bihar by a big margin."

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and its allies won 31 of Bihar's 40 seats, vanquishing Nitish and Lalu who fought separately.

But, the vote share of the BJP alliance in the national elections was about 36 per cent, roughly the same as that of Nitish and Lalu's parties combined. But it did not translate into seats as there was a three-way fight in most seats which benefited the BJP.

That math was factored in when Nitish and Lalu buried decades of differences last year and in a 10-seat by-election late last year, they joined hands, campaigned and fought together, along with the Congress. They won six, the BJP only four.

Merger talks began then and Mulayam Singh and the other parties with a socialist base were roped in to resurrect the Janata Parivar. They have practiced working as one in Parliament sessions over the last few months.

Source: NDTV