A Janata Dal-United member of Parliament has taken exception to the manner in which the Samata Party merged with the JD-U on Thursday.

Under the new arrangement, Samata chief George Fernandes will head the new party; Sharad Yadav, who was JD-U president, will head the parliamentary board.

"The merger is undemocratic. Leaders have flouted the party (JD-U) constitution. I shall challenge the decision legally," Devendra Prasad Yadav, a detractor of Sharad Yadav, said in New Delhi on Friday.

The JD-U was not a 'private limited organisation', he said, adding that without the consent of the national council, one could not foist a "drawing room decision" on the rank and file of the party.

He described the arrangement between Fernandes and Sharad Yadav as "an exchange of power between non-resident leaders".

It was a "gimmick of merger, which will fall apart sooner than later", he added.

"I was in the dark. Even JD-U MLAs in Bihar were not in the know of the development," he said.

The MP said it was "strange" that after the decision had been taken, a meeting of the JD-U and Samata would be held to approve it.

Citing Article 32 of the JD-U constitution, he said policy decision were first discussed at the national executive and then passed at the national council with a two-thirds majority.