The merger will give shape to new political equations in the Indian political scene.

The opponents of any alliance with BJP, comprising 11 out of 17 members of Dal's political affairs committee, at a separte meeting elected former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda as president of the party saying Sharad had discarded the majority opinion of PAC and so lost its confidence.

Both the factions are planning to approach the Election Commission for the symbol.

Dal's split notwithstanding, with the coming together of three major constituents of original Dal, the Indian polity is now left with two major streams--theone led by the BJP and the other by the Congress.

The honeymoon came last night after 19 years of separation when Janata Party was split in 1980.

The three constituents have joined the NDA only under a common minimum programme and unified Janata parivar will contest the Lok Sabha elections under the `Chakra' symbol of the Dal.

Announcing the unification at a joint news conference, Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav said he would reconstitute both the PAC and the national executive shortly in a move to exclude leaders who had opposed the unification.

Lok Shakti president Rama Krishna Hegde who also addressed the joint news conference allayed the fears of the Bharatiya Janata Party about the unification saying the merger is meant to strengthen the NDA and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The unified party, is opposed to a foreigner taking over the reigns of the country, he said. Sharad Yadav said till the formalities of merger is completed, the unified party will be administered by a steeringcommittee during the general elections.

Yadav said the Indian polity is now left with two major streams, the one led by the BJP and the other by the Congress, he had to choose one of them. The party has joined the NDA only under a common minimum programme, he added. Hegde said the merger was not an unexpected development and the parties had been holding parleys for the past eight months. It would not only strengthen the NDA but one another politically and stop erosion and disintegration of forces. ``All those who believed in protecting and preserving the nation should agree with this decision'', he added. Samata party president George Fernandes expressed the hope that another J D breakaway party, the Biju Janata Dal too would follow suit and would fight the elections under one common symbol and see that there was no repetition of the fall of government as happened when Vajpayee's coalition lost in the house by one vote.

Fernandes, who is also convener of the NDA, said the drafting work of the commonmanifesto was under way and the new development would help secure the requisite majority. People were also aware how difficult it was to run the government based on support from many parties for the past one and half years.

Citing the reason for joining hands, Paswan said the United Front had become weak and the polity had been narrowed down to two streams, corrupt forces believing in family rule and the forces opposed to it. ``We can't go on fighting forever on the basis of religion and castes'', he added.