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Hegde reiterates opposition to merger move

Spiking all talk of merger of two factions of the Janata Dal, senior Janata Dal (United) leader and former Union minister Ramakrishna Hegde Thursday said there was no question of his party reuniting with the Janata Dal (Secular).

"Breaking and floating parties is not a child's play. We cannot do as we feel," he told a press conference in Bangalore.

Hegde said JD-U must tell party workers as to why the erstwhile Janata Dal broke up in the first place.

"There were no differences on ideology, principles, programmes and policies," he said, and asked: "What is the need and necessity to come together again."

Referring to the reported statement of former prime minister and JD-S national president, H D Deve Gowda, that the JD-U will have to leave the National Democratic Alliance government if the merger were to take place, Hegde said there was no question of the JD-U leaving the NDA at this stage.

"In the present political scenario, we will go with the NDA. There is no change in our stand," he said.

Hegde said 90 per cent of the JD-S workers originally belong to the JD-U and they were welcome to come back.

Describing the talks on merger by some state JD-U leaders as a "futile exercise", Hegde wondered: "What's the guarantee that the party would not break up again."

PTI

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