SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav says Janata Parivar merger not possible before Bihar elections

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Sunday said that the merger of Janata Parivar will not be possible before the Bihar Assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held later this year.

"There is a technical problem. The problem is that if a political party tells the Election Commission that they are going to merge and form a new party, then the original name and symbols of the party will be frozen. The Bihar elections are near and the merger cannot be done in a hurry," Yadav told ANI.

"Voters will be confused, especially in Bihar. So the better option at this point of time is that both the parties come together, they share the seats and fight the election jointly. We will be signing the death warrant of our party if we do the merger in a hurry," he added.

Earlier, six political parties that till now comprised the 'Janata Parivar', had agreed to unify and create a new political front which will be called the 'Samajwadi Janata Party'.

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Om Prakash Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Chandra Shekhar's Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) and H.D. Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) will come under the umbrella of the Samajwadi Janata Party.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will be the new political front's president.