Socialist parties join hands to counter BJP

Ahead of the winter session, leaders of SP, JD-U, RJD and JD-S Thursday announced a united front in parliament to counter the BJP-led government.

A luncheon meeting called by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh was attended by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad, Janata Dal-United's (JD-U) Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda with others.

Talking to the media after the meet, JD-U leader and former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said the meeting aimed at bringing together the parties that have come out from the original Janata Dal.

"We discussed the whole political scenario. We will form a united front in parliament. Our views are same on many issues, and we will get other like minded parties," Nitish Kumar said.

"We didn't talk about the Congress but our coming together may lead to merger and it will have an impact on electoral politics," said Nitish Kumar.

The meet comes months after an attempt failed to form a non-Congress, non-BJP front ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in April-May.

After the meeting, Mulayam Singh Yadav with Sharad Yadav told media that they have decided to fight together against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the next course of action will be decided in coming meetings.

Lalu Prasad said: "We will work together to bring back the black money. The BJP has taken u-turn on the issue. It (BJP) said that it will bring the money within 100 days but it lied to people."

"The central government is going in wrong direction. The programmes which the UPA government had started, it (BJP) is pursuing the same with denting and painting...," he said.

Left parties were not invited to the luncheon meeting.

Nitish Kumar, however, said they will approach other parties with similar views, and Left parties are not ruled out.

The SP has five members in the Lok Sabha, RJD has four and the JD-U and JD-S have two each.