An announcement on the grand merger of the Janata Parivar is expected on Wednesday as leaders from the socialist parties met in New Delhi on the issue. The merged entity is likely to be called Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP). Leaders from the six parties which are to merge met at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh's Delhi residence. The six parties, apart from the SP, are Janata Dal-United (JD-U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the Samajwadi Janata Party-Rashtriya (SJP-R). "We are hopeful of an announcement today. We have authorised Mulayamji for this merger," JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters in the national capital. The meeting comes ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls scheduled for later this year. Sources said the group will endorse Nitish Kumar as the merged entity's chief ministerial candidate for Bihar in the meeting. The merger is being touted as an effort to take on the BJP, which, barring Delhi, has notched strong performances in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir after storming to power at the Centre in May last year. In the 2014 general elections, the BJP and its allies won 31 of Bihar's 40 seats.
