Last-minute meeting: Did Sonia promise Selja a key role in Haryana post-election, what's next for Hooda?

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) In what is being viewed as a significant development having political implications, senior Haryana Congress leader and former Union Minister Kumari Selja met former party chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, just hours before the campaigning for the October 5 Haryana assembly polls concluded.

During the meeting that lasted around half an hour, Gandhi is learnt to have held important discussions with Selja ahead of voting in Haryana.

This meeting assumes significance in light of the ongoing tensions between Selja and Congress heavyweight and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Selja seems to be still unhappy with the fact that the Hooda camp was given a maximum number of tickets. After a lot of persuasion by the party leadership, Selja resumed campaigning for the party, after staying away two weeks earlier.

Sources say that Gandhi may have assured Selja of a "significant role" should the Congress return to power in Haryana. During their half-hour discussion, she told Selja to work with other Congress leaders in the state to bolster the party's chances in the elections. Only with a Congress victory can Selja expect to be assigned an important role was the message conveyed during their meeting, sources say.

Selja's discontent has been evident over the past few weeks, which was due to the allocation of party tickets for the Assembly elections. She publicly expressed her displeasure over the priority given to Hooda's faction in ticket allocation. Expressing resentment over this, she kept herself away from campaigning for two weeks. However, following persuasion by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, Selja returned to the campaign trail.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi made Selja and Hooda shake hands on a dais.

Hooda, who has been the de facto leader of the Congress campaign in Haryana, has had considerable influence over the ticket allocation process. He is said to have obtained 72 tickets for his loyalists out of the 90 candidates the party fielded for the Assembly polls. Selja, who is seen as Hooda's rival within the party, managed to secure only nine tickets for her supporters.

Voting for the Haryana Assembly elections is scheduled for October 5, with results to be declared on October 8 after the counting of votes.

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