New party formed to take on BJP

New Delhi: Six regional political parties with socialist backgrounds on Wednesday announced their merger to form a new national party to take on India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The grouping will be headed by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav formally announced the closing of ranks by the six parties after a meeting held on Wednesday afternoon at New Delhi residence of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Besides Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United) other constituents of the yet-to-be-named party are Janata Dal (Secular) of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal of Om Prakash Chautala and Samajwadi Janata Party headed by industrialist Kamal Morarka.

Sharad Yadav said Mulayam Singh Yadav has been unanimously elected president of the new party as well as chairman of its parliamentary board.

A five member committee comprising of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Om Prakash Chautala, Sharad Yadav and Kamal Morarka has been formed to finalise name, flag, symbol, constitution, ideology and strategy of the new party.

“We will travel across the country to spread our message. Our policy is to take BJP out of power by practicing politics of socialism. Bihar will be the first battlefield,” Lalu Prasad Yadav said at the joint press conference.

Abhay Singh Chautala, younger son of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala represented the Indian National Lok Dal as his father is serving 10-year jail sentence after being found guilty in teachers recruitment scam.

This is the third occasion when various regional leaders subscribing to socialist ideology have formally joined hands to form a national party. They first joined hands in 1977 under the patronage of Jai Prakash Narayan to form Janata Party and came to power by ousting the Congress party.

They came together once again under the leadership of Vishwanath Pratap Singh to form Janata Dal which came to power once again in 1989.

Both in 1977 and 1989 BJP was at the forefront in formation of a non-Congress government. While Bharatiya Jana Sangh — as was BJP known then, merged its identity with the Janata Party, it supported the Janata Dal government of V.P. Singh form outside.

That BJP and not the Congress party is their target this time was clear from the tone and tenor of what leaders of the proposed new party had to say Wednesday.

Mulayam targeted the Narendra Modi government at the centre and termed it as total failure.

The lack of mention of the Congress party gave rise to speculation that the new party intends to keep its door ajar for a possible pre or post-poll tie-up with the Congress party.

Three constituents of the erstwhile Janata Dal, namely Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal, Federal Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal have kept away from the amalgamation of the socialists.

Failure to name the new party, its flag and symbol despite continuous parleys lasting a few months, is being interpreted by many as continued differences and personality clashes of its ambitious leaders that led to its twin failures in the past.

The first test of the new party would come in the Janata Dal (United)-ruled Bihar which is due to elect its new assembly in October-November this year, to be followed by elections in the Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh in March 2017.

The new party is expected to go to polls in Bihar by projecting incumbent chief minister Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate. Kumar has played a pivotal role in the coming together of these parties. BJP’s massive victory in Bihar during last year’s parliamentary polls resulted in Kumar reaching out to his friend turned foe Lalu Prasad Yadav.

They joined hands along with the Congress party to contest Bihar assembly by-elections for 10 seats late last year and managed to win six of them.

This prompted all others, scared of BJP growth, to start negotiations to come together under one umbrella which ultimately resulted into Wednesday merger announcement.

BJP appeared unfazed by the formation of the new party. BJP president Amit Shah while launching his party’s campaign in Bihar had on Tuesday termed coming together of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav as a big zero saying zero plus zero always equals to zero.

“Let them come together and test waters in Bihar. We can confident of forming the new government in Bihar,” BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said.