New Delhi, Jan. 3 :    New Delhi, Jan. 3:  The Samata Parliamentary Party is set to split with seven of its 12 MPs opposing the proposed merger of the party and the Janata Dal (United) and deciding to elect a new president for the Bihar unit. Even as George Fernandes tonight held last-ditch talks to avert a break-up, rebel leader Prabhunath Singh went ahead and announced that Samata had split and seven MPs had decided to float a new party on Friday. Singh added that Raghunath Jha would be elected the party's Bihar unit president the same day. Raghunath is heading the Samata's state unit at present. Union agriculture minister Nitish Kumar had unilaterally announced that the Bihar unit chief would be elected on January 5, said a rebel leader supporting Raghunath. He alleged Nitish had manipulated the election of district presidents with fake documents. Nitish has been advocating a merger of the Samata and the Dal(U). Along with Dal(U) chief Sharad Yadav, Nitish has been trying to split the Laloo Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal. But the crisis in the Samata has wrecked his plans. Barring the four Samata ministers - Fernandes, Nitish, Digvijay Singh and Sreenivas Prasad - all other party MPs appear to be with the rebel faction. Six MPs had met at Arun Kumar's residence today. Arun, Prabhunath, Raghunath, Manjay Lal, Mahindera Baitha and Brahmandand Mandal attended the meeting. Renu Kumari, who is out of Delhi, was not present. Prabhunath claimed she was also with them. The immediate provocation for the split is the scheduled election of Samata's Bihar unit president on January 5. Nitish wants one of his loyalists - Satish Kumar, Jagannath Yadav or Shyam Sunder Singh Dheeraj - to get the post. But Raghunath does not want to step down. Samata has 29 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly. On December 25, Nitish got them to adopt a resolution proposing immediate merger. Opposing the merger move, the rebels said the Dal(U)'s base had shrunk after Ram Vilas Paswan left. Sharad Yadav, had no mass base, they claimed. 'We are ready for merger, but minus Sharad Yadav,' they said. Prabhunath said like the parliamentary party, the legislature party will split. 'Most of them will come to our side,' he said. The rebels were waiting for a 'final communication from Fernandes' on the merger and the election of Raghunath but none was forthcoming. As soon as Prabhunath announced the split, the Fernandes camp got activated and talks were on till late into the night to find a solution to the crisis.