The legislators of the JDU and the RJD are by and large opposed to the idea of merger of the two parties but are in favour of an alliance because they collectively feel that the unification could be a threat to their existence.

JDU national general secretary K.C. Tyagi had hinted at the merger of his party with the RJD in a bid to unite the old Janata parivar (family). Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi also joined the chorus of merger and said it was the best option to give a tough challenge to the BJP. A crucial meeting in this regard is scheduled on December 25.

Besides the JDU and the RJD, top leaders of four other parties are expected to attend the meeting. Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party, Indian National Lok Dal of Om Prakash Chautala, Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and virtually extinct Samajwadi Janata Party of former Prime Minister late Chandrashekhar are likely to come under an umbrella to strengthen the anti-Narendra Modi coalition.

All these parties were once one under the umbrella of Janata Dal formed by late Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Devi Lal in 1989. Political observers believe that the personal ego of leaders or competing ambitions led to the break-up of the Janata Dal at various stages in 1990s.

But before the crucial meeting on the merger, the legislators of the JDU and the RJD are opposing the idea. A first-time minister in Manjhi’s cabinet said: “We are not going to accept this idea of merger as it would be a big threat to our existence. Forget the existence of the party, even our existence would not be visible anywhere.”

Citing the reason of quarrel over the issue of seat-sharing, another senior JDU MLA from Rohtas district said: “Once the merger takes place, the seat-sharing would become very difficult and many of our existing seats can go in the kitty of RJD or vice-versa. It would be very difficult for any MLA to gain the trust of the voters in a short span of time. In this situation, our main opposition party, BJP, will get the benefit and may emerge winner.”

An RJD MLA from Bhojpuri district echoed the Dal legislator and said the merger would affect their individual career.

“For the first time I have become an MLA and I want to continue to be the same in after the next Assembly elections. If both the parties merge, the political equation in my constituency would not remain same and I may be asked to make way for another candidate. We do not mind being in alliance and it has given us result. But we should not go for the merger just on the basis of Assembly bypoll results. It would be a suicidal move for both the parties,” said the RJD MLA on the condition of anonymity.

Chief minister Manjhi had joined the chorus for the JDU-RJD alliance to morph into a merger on November 17 after his weekly janata durbar. “We have seen how the JDU-RJD-Congress alliance succeeded against the BJP in the August by-elections, winning six Assembly seats against the BJP's four. We lost two seats marginally on technical grounds, else, we would have won eight in that by-election,” Manjhi had told reporters.

Manjhi's statement was backed by transport minister Ramai Ram, but was met with opposition from agriculture minister Narendra Singh, who declared that he did not agree with his boss.

Though Manjhi has batted for merger of the JDU and the RJD, Nitish Kumar has still not issued a clear statement over it. During his 17-day-long Sampark Yatra, which concluded on Saturday, he did not ventilate his opinion.

The December 25 meeting regarding the merger would be held in Delhi. Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad are expected to be present there. Lalu has not ruled out the possibility of the merger of the two parties.

“Both Lalu and Nitish know they will face strong opposition within their respective parties in case of a merger and want to tread cautiously,” said a senior JDU leader.

Should both parties unite, it will overcome one of the biggest hurdles most alliances face — that of seat-sharing. The JDU has been claiming more than half the 243 seats, while RJD leaders like former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh have gone public in declaring that their party was the “big brother”.

Nitish and Lalu buried their 20-year-old hostility to form a grand alliance of the JDU, RJD and the Congress after the drubbing in the general election this year. The alliance did well in August by-election with the RJD-JDU-Congress winning six against the BJP's four. The bypoll results have, apparently, strengthened the old Janata parivar members to close their ranks and put up a united fight against the BJP-led NDA.