New Delhi, Dec. 16 :     The much-delayed merger of the Samata Party and Lok Shakti into the Janata Dal (United) will be formalised on January 6. A ?unanimous? decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the JD(U) steering committee today. The meeting also endorsed the move by JD(U) leaders to rope in the Indian National Lok Dal and Biju Janata Dal. If an outright merger was not possible, the two parties should be co-opted as affiliates of the JD(U) in Haryana and Orissa before the Assembly polls, the participants felt. Arch-rivals Lok Shakti chief Ramakrishna Hegde and Samata Party president George Fernandes came face-to-face at the meeting. Fernandes, however, left the meeting mid-way, citing work. At the end of the one-and-half-hour meeting presided over by JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, party spokespersons Mohan Prakash and M. Raghupati told reporters that the ?merger conference? will be held here on January 6. The merger will be preceded by meetings of the national councils of the three parties on the same day. It was also decided to appoint a six-member committee, two each from the Samata Party, Lok Shakti and JD(U), to work out the modalities of merger by interacting with state party leaders. Before the formal merger, a meeting of the steering committee will be held on December 21 to decide the agenda for the conference and the strategy for the Assembly elections in Bihar, Orissa, Haryana and Manipur. Apart from Sharad Yadav, Fernandes and Hegde, today?s meeting was attended by communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan, agriculture minister Nitish Kumar, Samata general secretary Jaya Jaitley, minister of state for railways Digvijay Singh, Lok Shakti general secretary M. Raghupati and JD(U) general secretary Mohan Prakash.