The Samata Party is a political party in India. It was formed as an offshoot of the Janata Dal in 1994 by Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes. The reason given was that the Janata Dal had shifted to casteism.[1] The party has socialist leanings and is influent in North India. In the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004), it had 12 (out of 545) members.
In October 2003, Fernandes, the president of the party, announced that the party will be merging with the Janata Dal (United).[2] The Janata Dal (United) was part of the ruling coalition in the National Democratic Alliance. One minority in the party refused to go along with the merger. The Election Commission of India decided that the merger was not technically complete and so a faction was allowed to function under the name of Samata Party.[3] Recently there have been attempts by loyalists of George Fernandes to revive the Party. This possibilty was not discounted by Fernandes' loyalist Jaya Jaitley.[4]. See also: List of political parties in India
Sources
- Fernandes to head Janata Dal (United), The Hindu, Oct 31, 2003
- A profile of Samata Party(old)
- EC recognises old Samata Party, The Hindu, Mar 21, 2004
- Convention to revive Samata Party, The Hindu, Jan 22, 2007
