Five veterans did not figure in the list of 30 probables announced on Thursday for India’s World Cup cricket quest next year but five veterans from a retirement-free ball game met on the same day and mooted a merger of their parties to rebuild the Janata team. Headed by Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leaders of the erstwhile ‘Janata Parivar’, formally decided to merge, asserted to play an effective Opposition not only in Parliament but also outside it. The constituents include Janata Dal-Secular, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United, Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party. For all this unification looks as the last pitched battle to take on not only Bharatiya Janata Party’s growing popularity but also the growing stature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi especially after the beating the opposition including Congress got during the recent Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. Its biggest challenge would be to stop BJP from winning a substantial number of seats and gaining power in Bihar. The Congress is already part of the existing alliance between JD(U) and RJD in Bihar and Jharkhand. A merger of this kind is perhaps taking place for the first time since 1988 when Janata Dal was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions – Lok Dal, Congress (S) and V.P Singh’s Jan Morcha. Since then, Janata Dal subsequently splintered into SJP, SP, BJD, INLD, RLD, RJD, JD(U), LJP and others. Faced with a challenge from Devi Lal, VP Singh had then brought out the Mandal Commission recommendations (reservations for backward, scheduled caste, OBCs) thereby allowing Lalu, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav and others to subsequently thrive on ‘Mandalite politics’. The emergence of five-in-one party itself is combination of divisive forces which never stood together even in the worst of the political time and the longevity of the new political party, whatever shape it may take, would depend on how it performs in the upcoming Bihar elections which are scheduled in October-November next.