Socialist parties join hands to counter BJP in parliament

Ahead of the winter session, socialist opposition parties SP, JD-U, RJD and JD-S Thursday announced a united front in parliament to counter the BJP led government.

A luncheon meeting called by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh was attended by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, Janata Dal-United's (JD-U) Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader HD Deve Gowda along with others.

Talking to the media after the meet, JD-U leader and former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said the meeting aimed at bringing together the parties that have come out from the original Janata Dal.

"We discussed the whole political scenario. We will form a united front in parliament. Our views are same on many issues, and we will get other like minded parties," Nitish Kumar said.

The meet comes months after an attempt failed to form a non-Congress, non-BJP front ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Left parties, which were at the helm of affairs at that time, were not invited to the luncheon meeting.Nitish Kumar, however, said that they will approach other parties with similar views, and Left parties are not ruled out.

SP has five members in the Lok Sabha, RJD has four and JD-U and JD-S have two each.