The delineation, which began with a meeting of Samata Party chief George Fernandes, Lok Shakti president Ramakrishna Hegde and Karnataka Chief Minister J.H. Patel in Bangalore a few days ago, will culminate in the reunification of a big chunk of the Janata parivar ``within the next 48 hours,'' Samata spokesman Digvijay Singh told reporters today.

The merger idea, which was mooted by Patel and supported by Ram Vilas Paswan, at the JD's political affairs committee meeting yesterday was discussed at the same forum again today, accompanied by angry exchanges between those who advocate a tie-up with the BJP and others who swear by secularism.

The ``secular, pro-Congress'' group which includes former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, S. Jaipal Reddy and Madhu Dandavate hasnow been pushed to a stage where it will either have to walk out of the JD or go along with the dominant sentiment in the party. Significantly, JD chief Sharad Yadav has also cast his lot with the proponents of the reunification idea.

While the Gowda group has no objection to the reunification process, it says that this could be pursued only if Fernandes and Hegde sever their links with the BJP. It has rejected outright the idea that the JD should become part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Fernandes, Hegde, Patel and Yadav are scheduled to have a final round of discussions before the JD PAC meets for the third day in succession tomorrow. Patel also met Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee this afternoon to explain the efforts being made to unify the anti-Congress forces.

Sharad Yadav told reporters this evening that three views had emerged in the party. One was that the JD should fight the coming elections on its own.

The second was that the party's State units be allowed to strike their ownalliances depending on local factors and the third that the Janata parivar should be strengthened to make the JD a potent political force.

He said that the PAC had authorised him to take a decision keeping in mind the overall interest of the party and without compromising on its basic philosophy. This claim was however rejected by a couple of PAC members who said that no such authorisation had been given to Yadav.

He said that party leaders who had held discussions with the groups which had left the JD had reported to the PAC what had transpired. Talks had also been held with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, he added.

Samata leader Nitish Kumar, who held discussions with Yadav in the morning, said that an important political development was in the offing very soon.

The development has obviously caused consternation in the BJP circles, especially in Karnataka, where the party hopes to come to power in the Assembly elections being held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. A tie-up withthe JD will be suicidal for the BJP in the sense that it will have to sacrifice a large number of seats in the alliance. State unit leaders B.S.Yediyurappa and Ananth Kumar have tried to impress upon the Central leadership that an alliance with the ``discredited'' JD would not serve its interests.

Patel, on the other hand, is said to have registered his strong protest with the Prime Minister over the statements made by Karnataka BJP leaders against him. He told Vajpayee that the State unit should be made aware that the prime objective of the JD, like that of the BJP, was to defeat the Congress in the interest of the country. He even went to the extent of saying that he wanted Vajpayee back as Prime Minister after the elections.

When Vajpayee wanted to know if he had spoken to local BJP leaders, Patel said that it was for Hegde and Fernandes to talk to them.

Among those who strongly came out in support of the Patel-Paswan group was former prime minister I.K.Gujral. In fact, it was Gujral who proposedthat Sharad Yadav be authorised to take the final decision while Patel seconded it.

Todays's JD PAC meeting witnessed frequent angry exchanges between leaders advocating a tie-up with the Samata-Lok Shakti and those against it. At one stage, Paswan and party leader from Orissa Srikanta Jena had a heated argument with the former threatening to walk out. Paswan also took a dig at Deve Gowda, reminding him that while he talked of secularism today he himself had as prime minister held discussions with a ``communal'' person like Bal Thackeray. He also did not spare leaders like Jaipal Reddy, recalling that he won his Lok Sabha seat, courtesy the Telugu Desam Party.