Bangalore: Asserting that Samata Party had ceased to exist in his view, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) national president and Defence Minister George Fernandes today (Mar 21, 2004) said that the rejection of the JD-U-Samata Party merger by the Election Commission would not make a difference for his party.

"It will not make a difference," Fernandes said en route to Salem in Tamil Nadu, where he is expected to address a rally.

"JD-U is the party which has an election symbol. If any one wants to use the Samata Party name and fight the elections, what is our loss? And to us, there is no Samata Party (existing) now," he said.

The Election Commission yesterday (Mar 20, 2004) ruled that the Samata Party has not ceased to exist as a political party and the merger was "only a case of a few individuals" of the party, or at the most, a group of the party led by Fernandes joining the JD-U.

The EC ruling that it was not a "valid" or "total" merger was considered as a jolt to the JD-U-Samata combine, a key ally of the National Democratic Alliance, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

"If (Samata Party exists) in the view of the Election Commission or in the view of the any individual, we don't have any objection," Fernandes said.

He said discussions were on with the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) for seat sharing in Karnataka, adding, "Everything will be finalised in the next two to four days."

Fernandes declined to comment on the progress of the talks with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on seat sharing in Karnataka saying it was not for public discussion.

Asked whether the NDA would be affected if the seat-sharing with BJP faces hiccups, Fernandes said, "No, why? I have always said whatever be the issue, a solution can be arrived at. We will find the solution."

The JD-U national president said that he was always involved in bringing people together and "not to create trouble for them".