RJD open to merger talks with JD(S), says Shreyams Kumar

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) State president M.V. Shreyams Kumar has said his party is open to any merger talks with the Kerala unit of the Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)].

Addressing a ‘meet-the-leader’ event organised at the Calicut Press Club here on Thursday, he said that discussions had earlier been held with the JD(S) on a possible merger. “We then got hints that party joining hands with the BJP at the national level and the talks hit a dead end,” Mr. Shreyams Kumar said.

Though the JD(S) led by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda is now a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, the State unit of the party has distanced itself from the coalition.

Mr. Shreyams Kumar said though the RJD was open to the merger, the JD(S) State unit was contemplating to separate from the national party and float a State-level organisation.

Asked about his party’s prospects in the upcoming local body polls, Mr. Shreyams Kumar said the RJD would improve its performance this time, including in Eramala grama panchayat in Kozhikode, where it had been in power for a long time.

He alleged that the Congress-led United Democratic Front was raking up the Sabarimala gold theft case because it had nothing else to say.

Mr. Shreyams Kumar also said that the election campaigning was getting bogged down by unnecessary controversies and issues concerning people were not getting the attention they deserved.