Despite past concerns, the State unit of the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) has set in motion once again, after a two-year bewildered hiatus, merger talks with its parent socialist entity, the Janata Dal (Secular). Senior leaders from the two parties - State president M.V. Shreyams Kumar, national general secretary Varughese George and K.P. Mohanan, MLA from the LJD side and State president Mathew T. Thomas, Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty and former Minister A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar from the JD (S) - will seek to thrash out the details of their merger plans in Kochi on Thursday. The amalgamation of these two parties has become a bitter necessity especially for the LJD after its national leadership merged the party with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Besides, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [ CPI M] has been mooting for the merger of LJD and JD (S) even before the Assembly polls last year. Several rounds of talks have happened between leaders earlier, but they are still not yet in agreement to strike a deal particularly in sharing posts. Also, the exit of rebel leaders including its former general secretary Sheikh P. Haris has been troubling the party leadership.
“Talks held with RJD leader and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, were meaningful. The RJD leadership was keen to have a unit in Kerala. This was unlike the talks our party held with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, which is in the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh, “ an LJD functionary said. The LJD- JD (S) merger has been on the cards after the former joined the Left Democratic Front, but it struggled to gain traction. Now something positive will emerge hopefully, an LJD leader said. No political party other than the LJD has undergone a change in name, constitution, or flag in the State. After a splinter group of the JD (S) walked out of the Left coalition in 2009, the party led by the late M.P. Veerendra Kumar was named Socialist Janata Democratic and later it merged with Janata Dal (United) to join the Congress- led UDF camp. But when the JD(U) aligned with the BJP at the national level, the State unit metamorphosed as LJD and then again switched coalition loyalties.
