NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal splinter groups bit the bullet and announced on Tuesday that they will merge into one party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav , clearing the way for a direct contest with the BJP in the Bihar polls scheduled for later this year.The parties merging are Samajwadi Party, JD(U) of Nitish Kumar, RJD of Lalu Prasad, INLD of Om Prakash Chautala, JD(S) of HD Deve Gowda and SJP of Kamal Morarka. At a meeting at Mulayam Singh’s residence here, The partners deferred a decision on the ticklish issues of name, election symbol and flag. A committee, headed by Mulayam and comprising Gowda, Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Chautala, Ram Gopal Yadav and Morarka, will work out these issues.The SP’s symbol “cycle” and flag (green-red band) could be adopted by the new outfit formed by the merger of the various splinter groups of the Janata Dal, while its name is likely to be Samajwadi Janata Dal.Leaders from the parties met at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh's Delhi residence.The six parties, apart from the SP, are Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Janata Dal-Secular JD-S) and Samajwadi Janata Party-Rashtriya (SJP-R).The merger is most significant for Bihar as it will have a major bearing on the upcoming state elections. These polls are crucial for BJP. Having been trounced in the Delhi elections, the party would be looking to regain its momentum by winning in Bihar. The prospect of that has become more difficult as a coalition of OBCs and Muslims under the united Janata banner would be a formidable electoral combination.Mulayam has been named the head of the party as well as the parliamentary board, vesting in him the decision-making of the new outfit. One key appointment on the table is leader in the two houses of Parliament. It is tricky in Rajya Sabha with JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and Samajwadi biggie and Mulayam’s brother Ramgopal Yadav as contenders. Another key issue is if the party would announce a CM candidate for Bihar, although incumbent Nitish Kumar appears to be a natural choice.Ramgopal did not attend the meeting, which is being seen as reservations in the Samajwadi camp over the merger. However, Mulayam Singh said he was busy with a family engagement in his hometown.The announcement on the merger ended the suspense over the unification of Janata outfits since the proposal was floated six months ago in the wake of decimation of RJD and JD(U) in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections at the hands of BJP. While the talks were meandering along, there appears to have been sudden pressure to clinch the issue in view of approaching Bihar polls.With the merger announced, Mulayam and Lalu said their party would work to “break the arrogance” of the Modi government, accusing it of failing to fulfill poll promises and instead working to polarise society.None of these regional outfits have overlapping turfs except for JD(U) and RJD. After BJP swept the LS polls, sworn enemies Nitish and Lalu came together in the assembly and appeared set to contest state polls together. But fighting under one banner, it was felt, would nudge their antagonistic support base to collaborate as colleagues. Congress had already indicated that it would prefer a strong “secular” alliance.Mulayam let out the driving force behind the merger when he told reporters, “Nitishji bahut nirash the.” (Nitish was very disappointed). He refused to elaborate but the implied reason was evident. Nitish snapped ties with BJP against Narendra Modi’s projection as PM candidate but his challenge came a cropper.Realising that the merger would surprise voters witness to years of mutual baiting between JD(U) and RJD, Lalu urged people to ignore rumours about their persisting differences. “We are one. There is no ego hassle, either with me or with Nitish,” he said.