Actor Urmila Matondkar all set to join Shiv Sena today
A year after quitting the Congress party, actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar is set to join Shiv Sena on Tuesday, a party functionary said.
Throwing indications in this regard, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut had on Monday said that the Bollywood actor will join the Shiv Sena on December 1.
“She (Urmila Matondkar) may join Shiv Sena tomorrow. She is a Shiv Sainik. We are happy that she is joining the Shiv Sena. This will strengthen the party’s ‘Mahila Aghadi’,” Raut said.
Matondkar is likely to join the Shiv Sena in the presence of party president and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and State Minister Aaditya Thackeray. After her formal induction into the party, she will be holding a press conference at 4 PM to announce her future plans.
Matondkar, who joined the Congress party five months before the 2019 Lok Sabah elections, had announced her exit from the party in September last year, citing “petty in-house politics”. She had said that her political and social sensibilities refused to allow vested interests in the party to use her as a means to fight petty in-house politics instead of working on a bigger goal in Mumbai Congress.
“I’ve resigned from the Indian National Congress. The first thought of resignation came to me when after my repeated efforts, no action was taken in pursuance of my letter dated 16th May, addressed to then Mumbai Congress President Mr. Milind Deora. Thereafter, to my utter dismay, the said letter containing privileged and confidential communication was conveniently leaked to the media, which according to me, was an act of blatant betrayal. Needless to say, no one from the party was apologetic or even concerned towards me for the same despite my repeated protests,” she had said in a statement.
The actor-turned-politician had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against BJP’s sitting MP Gopal Shetty but had hogged the limelight with her campaign and political understanding.
