Mamata Banerjee-Anna Hazare bonhomie over?

NEW DELHI: The Mamata-Anna relationship seems to be over. Even while both — Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare — have not said so clearly, Hazare's not turning up at the much-hyped joint rally at the Ramlila grounds here on Wednesday sounded the death knell of the relationship even before it took off.

While West Bengal chief minister Banerjee returned to Kolkata on Thursday after addressing an almost empty rally ground on Wednesday, all by herself, and put up a brave face saying, she will continue the relationship and address rallies together with the veteran activist in future, the very next rally that was planned for Ahmedabad on March 20, has been called off for now, it is learnt. The rally in Gujarat was meant to take on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on his home turf, is no longer on the cards on Thursday.

While TMC sources say "didi" is unlikely to have any further engagement with Anna, the official word from Mamata after the poor show at the rally was, "it is okay, I am happy to be here on Annaji's invitation and I am happy as I return... he (Anna) is an elderly man and he took ill... that can always happen." But this was coming from a fuming Mamata, how put up a brave face to say that she would continue the relationship with him that started at joint press conference here about a month ago, with the purpose creating a national stage for the Bengal leader and for Hazare who had lost out to his disciple Arvind Kejriwal, who has successfully floated the Aam Aadmi Party and even ran the Delhi government for 49 days. With the joint outing folding up, even Hazare's plans to puncture Kejriwal's electoral move.

Learning from her Ramlila experience, the TMC chief, it is learnt, has already decided to concentrate on Bengal, her mainstay, from where she can get the maximum numbers for the coming Lok Sabha. While she has already declared candidates outside of her home state, Mamata said she will put up contestants wherever she can get good candidates and do it on her own now.

Mamata's decision to focus on Bengal rather than on a national scheme of things, for the next Lok Sabha has been well taken by the majority of her party people. They were wary of Banerjee taking to the national stage and hence neglecting her own backyard, which could mean trouble for TMC, with her rivals waiting in the wings and the wave that she rode two years ago not very visible in the state after a couple years of anti-incumbency factors creeping in.