The political marriage between Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and prominent Gandhian activist and crusader against corruption Anna Hazare has just ended in a bitter divorce even before it could be consummated.

The two leaders were scheduled to jointly address an election rally at New Delhi’s sprawling Ramlila Maidan on Wednesday, an event which was supposed to kick off Banerjee’s prime ministerial march in the upcoming general elections after the 76-year-old Gandhian had on Feb. 19 pledged his support to Banerjee for the post of prime minister.

But Hazare ditched Banerjee and the rally. He was miffed with Banerjee and her party workers for failing to get huge crowds at the rally venue. Barely a few hundred people had gathered at Ramlila Maidan, the same venue where hundreds of thousands of people had braved inclement weather for hours to await Hazare’s arrival not too long ago when Hazare’s numerous agitations for Lokpal (Ombudsman) Bill were at their peak.

A worried Banerjee rushed her trusted aide Mukul Roy to Hazare who was camping at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi. Insiders reveal that Roy beseeched Hazare to proceed to Ramlila Maidan and said the people would troop in once he reaches the venue. But Hazare refused to budge and told Roy bluntly that organizing crowds at the rally venue was the job of Trinamool Congreess, not his.

Eventually, Hazare’s aides told the media that the social activist would not be attending Banerjee’s rally as he was suffering from chest congestion.

The fiasco has huge political repercussions for India at the national level. Here is how it would impact important political players at a time when 814 million voters are scheduled to vote in the 9-phase election process from April 7.

Mamata Banerjee: This is a rude jolt to the mercurial politician who, just three weeks ago, had stars in her eyes and hoped to ride the Anna Hazare bandwagon all the way to South Block in Raisina Hills, the seat of power in New Delhi. She had then made grandiose announcements of her party spreading its wings all over the country and contesting 100 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Now, not only that dream is shattered but also she has been cut down to size. This will dent her image in her home state and she will find it difficult to make amends in time. Her party had 19 members in the 15th Lok Sabha and was hoping to get more than 30 out of 42 seats in West Bengal for the upcoming election. But that seems to be a tall order now.

Anna Hazare: The rustic old man from Maharashtra, who single-handedly brought the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to its knees three years ago, has now become a spent cartridge. He is no longer a crowd puller. This hard fact was demonstrated to him last year when his agitation against the UPA government in Mumbai had fizzled out because of thin crowds. Wednesday’s fiasco is a reaffirmation of this biting reality that it is time for the old man to retire into private life.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP): This is a God-send help to AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal, who was the most trusted lieutenant of Hazare but has now fallen apart from his mentor. Hazare had openly said that he would not be supporting AAP and had announced that he would support Banerjee’s candidates on all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. AAP can now breathe easy as the Hazare-supported Trinamool Congress candidates would have eaten into AAP vote bank.

Left Parties: The four-party Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), would be the biggest beneficiary of the Hazare-Banerjee split. They were down in the dumps and the Banerjee juggernaut seemed to be galloping ahead; but no longer.

The national impact of this event would be that the long PM-aspirant list looks to have been cut down by one just now. This would be good tidings for another woman PM-aspirant and regional satrap — AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

National parties like the Congress and the BJP won’t be affected much by this development except for the fact that it would make the post-poll scenario even more tantalizing.

n The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist and a political commentator

who tweets @Kishkindha.