Mangaluru : Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda on Friday said the merger of the offshoots of the erstwhile Janata Parivar could take place by February.

Speaking to presspersons at Mangluru Circute house on Friday Mr. Gowda said, “Before the February Budget session of the Parliament, we intend to merge. We have decided to work united in the December 22 meeting held in Delhi.”

Leaders of all the Janata Parivar outfits, including the Janata Dal (United), the Janata Dal (Secular), the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and others have decided to come under one name and one symbol. “I am not particular about any name or symbol and don’t have any ego issues either,” Mr. Gowda said.

With the merger, the strength of the Janata Parivar in the Lok Sabha would go up to 15. If the Biju Janata Dal too joins hands, the strength then would be 35, making the Parivar the fourth largest party in the Lok Sabha, he said. With their numbers in single digit at present, the parties are unable to espouse public cause effectively on the floor of the House, he admitted.

Mr. Gowda said the Parliament session, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, got disrupted on account of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s silence on the conversion issue. It is not due to opposition parties, he said adding that it was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to overcome the internal problems in the party.

Demanding that Mr. Modi should make his stand clear on conversion issue, Mr. Gowda said. “If he continues to be the Prime Minister of BJP alone, it would be dangerous.”

He said that A.B. Vajpayee never behaved like Mr. Modi and took everyone along. Conversion, whether voluntary, forced or induced, would send a wrong message to society, the former Prime Minister said.