JD(U), Samata, Lok Shakti merger comes a cropper

Briefing reporters on the party’s national executive, Jaitley said the meeting expressed "unhappiness" over failure of the three parties to complete modalities for their unification.

"Assembly elections will be announced in the next few days and in the absence of a united party it will be impossible to reconcile the claims of various aspiring candidates," the meeting resolved.

She said Samata Party was the "dominant" party in Bihar where it was fighting against Rashtriya Janata Dal’s "jungle raj" for over five years and the merger "can create confusion which will not be in the interest of the people of the state".

Jaitley said in the absence of clear modalities on seat adjustments and choice of candidates, Samata Party would stay away from the unification conference slated later in the day.

Jaitley apprehended there could be a repeat of Dal’s debacle in the Karnataka assembly elections where Lok Shakti and JD (U) could not reconcile their respective claims and contested against each other, losing miserably to Congress.

"We are prepared to have seat adjustments as Samata Party does not want repetition of Karnataka experience in Bihar. We suggest that the three parties contest the elections on their respective symbols," she said adding Samata Party adopted this course of action in the interest of the people of Bihar.

She recalled that Samata Party had left Hajipur and Madhepura Lok Sabha seats to JD (U) and was prepared for similar arrangements for the forthcoming assembly elections.

Jaitley asserted that her party was ahead of BJP in 124 of the 324 assembly segments in Bihar in the last Lok Sabha elections and said that aspiring party candidates would feel insecure if there was no assurance from the unified party.

"We would not have any say in case of merger so far Bihar elections are concerned," she remarked.

To a specific question whether the leadership issue was the main stumbling block in Samata Party’s merger with JD (U), she said "this issue did not figure in today’s meeting and the focus was only on the modalities".