``Senior party leaders will discuss the modalities of the merger with Congress leaders as soon as AICC leader Madhavrao Scindia (in charge of the Gujarat unit) returns from abroad on June 28,'' former RJP minister Vipul Chaudhary said in Gandhinagar after Vaghela made the announcement at a press conference in the state capital on Saturday.

The party's state executive committee which had met earlier in the day authorised Vaghela to choose between seat-sharing and merger and accordingly begin talks with the Congress. The party resolution was adopted after 340 members voted in favour of the move and two against.

The RJP president said he planned to organise a series of functions to celebrate the merger, first in Delhi and lateron a larger scale in Gujarat.``Although I have been authorised to hold talks with the Congress on seat-sharing as well as a merger, the consensus at the meeting was in favour of a merger,'' the RJP president told mediapersons.

The RJP chief dismissed suggestions that he would have trouble reconciling his RSS background with the impending merger.

``No political party in India, be it the BJP or the Congress, functions on the basis of ideology and principles,'' he said.

``Ideologies are required to be changed to suit the needs of the changing times.''

There were ``no preconditions'' for the planned merger, the former chief minister added.

AHMEDABAD: Reacting to the announcement, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said since the people had ``rejected both the Congress and the RJP,'' the coming together of the two parties would have no impact on Gujarat.

State BJP general secretary Gordhanbhai Zadaphia said the two parties were ``day dreaming.''

He said the Congress had ``conveniently forgotten''the memorandum submitted by its leaders to the then Governor listing details of the RJP's ``misrule and corruption'' even as it declared it was withdrawing support to the Dilip Parikh-led government.

The Congress' alignment with the RJP would put a question mark on its survival after the elections, the BJP leader warned, adding several RJP workers were hesitant about joining the Congress under Vaghela because of the evident differences in ideology.