RJD President Lalu Prasad said that efforts are on to sort out the difficulties in the process of Janata Party merger and the constituents' are aimed to defeat BJP in Bihar through an electoral alliance, if the merger did not happen. "We are a strong votary for the merger of Janata Parivar. Some serious technical issues have cropped up which we are trying to sort out, but if these do not happen, we are prepared to fight election together," Prasad told. Merger or alliance, our aim is to defeat BJP at any cost," the RJD chief said.

While, the Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said there is "no possibility of a (Janata Parivar) merger" before Bihar Assembly polls. "The merger is not possible before the Bihar election due to technicalities. If we merge in a hurry, it will be like signing the death warrant of our party," he had said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the merger exercise is moving on the right path slowly and steadily. JD (U) spokesperson KC TYagi, claimed that his party and RJD would contest the assembly elections together in Bihar, indicating that a merger is not on the cards.

“We contested the by-elections to the 10 assembly seats in alliance and won 6 seats. So, I don't think there will be any problem if we contest the assembly elections together," the RJD chief said.

The merger of the Janata Parivar is running into trouble with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is endorsing the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav's stand on delaying the merger process till the assembly elections of Bihar. This will upset Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's plans, who was pushing for the merger.

RJD chief Prasad alleged that the BJP is treating the leaders like Union ministers Ramvilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha, Ramkripal Yadav as "refugees" and entrusting them with the task of carrying forward BJP agenda in Bihar "which could never succeed". “I am a strong supporter of the merger of the six parties of the Janata Parivar, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal-United, but some technical problems have come in the way of their merger. It may get delayed, so the RJD and the JD-U would contest the Bihar assembly polls together in the alliance,” Lalu Prasad told. “A strong alliance of the RJD and the JD-U will defeat the BJP in the Bihar polls, if there is a delay in their merger,” he said.

By Premji