JDU chief Sharad Yadav with his RJD counterpart Lalu Prasad during an event to celebrate Makar Sankranti festival in Patna on Wednesday. (PTI)

Patna, Jan. 14: They made all the right noises about the proposed Janata Parivar merger, but none would set a date to it and nothing concrete emerged either.

Janata Parivar stalwarts met warmly and shared mouth-watering dahi-chuda and vegetables under a balmy, wintry sun during Makar Sankranti today. They spoke in one voice too — “We will get together once again in order to rein in the BJP.”

But nothing concrete emerged from the Makar Sankranti bash marking the end of kharmas (inauspicious month). Many second-rung leaders and cadres in the Parivar factions were expecting the stalwarts — Lalu Prasad, Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar — to spell out the shape and contour of the new party that would emerge after the merger, as also the time frame within which it would formalise.

Nitish was down with fever and stayed indoors. Lalu was loud but remained vague. Emerging after briefly meeting an ailing Nitish, Lalu said: “We (Nitish and I) have inched closer. We are sharing each other’s grief and happiness. The merger of six parties will take place. Mulayam Singhji has been authorised to take a call on the issue.” In a nutshell, Lalu repeated what he had said yesterday.

Sharad went a step backward. A day ago, he had hinted at the JDU and RJD merging first and others following later. Today he said: “The statement I gave yesterday was incomplete. Laluji has completed it today. It is better if all six parties merge together.”

Samajwadi Party leader and cabinet rank minister from Uttar Pradesh Omprakash Singh attended both Lalu and JDU state chief Basishtha Narayan Singh’s feast. He said: “We have had just two-three meeting sessions. More meetings and dialogue will follow in the run-up to the merger.”

INLD leader Abhay Chautala said: “Don’t be impatient. The Janata Parivar factions will get together… the merger will take place. We will be able to stop the BJP’s juggernaut.”

On the surface there is a lot of optimism. But scratch the surface and it emerges that the stalwarts of various faction have so far failed to remove the glitches and hurdles on the path of the much-hyped merger. Sources said they are yet to figure out how they will position themselves in the new pecking order. They are equally unsure how their cadres — who have been fighting each other for years — will react after the merger. Sections in almost every party feel formation of a joint front was a “better idea” than merging the parties altogether. Apparently, there is lack of clarity on the broader contours of the merged outfit.

Lalu — who hopped between his 10 Circular Road residence, the New Patna Club for Basishtha’s feast and Nitish’s 7 Circular Road residence — said: “We will meet again in New Delhi to carry forward the process of merger.”

JDU spokesman K.C. Tyagi, however, said: “Makar Sankranti has marked the beginning of the merger process. Mulayam Singhji is all set to become the president of the new outfit that will be known as Rashtriya Samajvadi Party or something like that.” Basishtha nodded. “The process of merger has speeded up,” he said. There were sceptics too. Dalit leader and transport minister Ramai Ram said: “The merger should be formalised soon. If we don’t put our act together soon we will meet the same fate we met in Jharkhand”.

In Jharkhand there was no alliance between the JDU, RJD, Congress and JMM. As a result they lost heavily, while the BJP took advantage of the divide. Former Union minister and RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said: “All the parties have agreed on a merger. But it will take, at least, two months to complete the process.”

Leader after leader — Lalu, chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, K.C. Tyagi and Abhay Chautala — slammed the BJP for playing communal and divisive cards in the country and reiterated their commitment to rein in the right wing outfit. But they failed to explain the manner in which they will do it.