When dahi meets chuda on Makar Sankranti, stalwarts of the would-be Janata Parivar would gather to talk of merger to take on a resurgent BJP.

JDU state chief Bashishtha Narayan Singh will host a feast on the holy occasion on Wednesday that is likely to be attended by RJD chief Lalu Prasad, JDU president Sharad Yadav, its patriarch Nitish Kumar, INLD leader Ajay Chautala, besides representatives from Samajwadi Party. Singh said leaders from the Left parties, the Congress and other 'like-minded' parties have been invited to the feast too.

Though Lalu has organised a separate two-day feast (Wednesday and Thursday) over dahi-chuda at his 10 Circular Road residence, he landed here on Tuesday confirming that he would attend Bashishtha's banquet.

'I will attend Bashishtha's feast and request the guests to attend mine too,' he said.

Lalu and Bashishtha have been organising the Makar Sankranti feasts for almost two decades. The feast amid talks of merger of the Janata Parivar factions is likely to witness bonhomie and sharing of pleasantries. Sources, however, revealed that the occasion might not offer a formal political platform to announce anything concrete about the merger.

Sharad hinted that the JDU and the RJD might merge first for others to follow suit in the light of the fact that Bihar is scheduled to go to polls in October or November.

Lalu, apparently, differed saying: 'The merger will not take place in bits and pieces. All the six parties are on course of merger. We have authorised SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to take a call on it. We will wait for him to advance the process and make announcement.'

The Janata Parivar factions were also agog with the apprehension in a section of the Samajwadi Party that Mulayam's outfit might lose its cycle symbol and also its Samajwadi tag that clicked for the party in UP over the years.

Sources said the apprehension about not gaining anything concrete at the cost of losing the party's symbol and its name has kept Mulayam relatively muted in comparison to Lalu, Sharad and Nitish in the exercise of merger.

Lalu, however, asserted that the merger would certainly take place.

'We have no ego. We are not merging to get posts and positions. We are merging to take on the communal BJP that has been openly executing the RSS's divisive agenda. We are merging to liberate India from the shackles of communalism and falsehood,' Lalu said.

Lalu and Bashishtha are likely to draw over 10,000 people each to their Makar Sankranti parties. It was evident from their preparations. Sources said both have ordered nearly 20 quintals of fine variety of beaten rice, 15 to 20 quintals of curd, tilkut (a sweet) besides seasonal vegetables in good quantities each.