Sharad Yadav's party Loktantarik Janata Dal to merge with RJD on Mar 20

New Delhi, Mar 16: Former Union minister Sharad Yadav on Wednesday announced that he will be merging his party Loktantarik Janata Dal with Rashtriya Janata Dal on March 20 in a bid to unite various offshoots of the erstwhile Janata Dal.

Yadav has been keeping a low profile over health reasons even as his party failed to make its presence felt since its launch after he parted ways with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U). His decision for the merge brings him together with Lalu Prasad after over three decades even as they are at a fag end of their political career.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad had left the Janata Dal in 1997 to form his own party following differences with its leadership as the probe against fodder scam, in which he was a main accused, gathered pace. Sharad Yadav was then seen as his rival within the Janata Dal, and he later joined with Kumar to end RJD's 15-year reign in Bihar in 2005.

It may be recalled that Sharad Yadav's daughter had fought the 2020 assembly polls in Bihar on a RJD ticket but lost.

"This step (merger) has been necessitated as an initiative of my regular efforts for bringing together scattered Janata parivar in view of the current political situation in the country," Sharad Yadav (74) said in a statement, claiming the BJP government has been a failure and people are looking for a strong opposition.

He pointed out that the Janata Dal alone had 143 seats in Lok Sabha in 1989 and said the agenda for social justice has lost its pace with the disintegration of the party over the years, and this needs to be revived.

Yadav claimed that all like-minded parties should come together to build up strong opposition. PTI