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In surprise move, Urmila Matondkar quits Congress, blames ‘petty in-house politics’

The Bollywood actor had on March 27 joined the Congress after meeting then party chief Rahul Gandhi at his residence.

In surprise move, Urmila Matondkar quits Congress, blames ‘petty in-house politics’

Actress and former Congress leader Urmila Matondkar. (File Photo: IANS)

Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar, in a surprise move, resigned from the Congress on Tuesday months after joining the party before the Lok Sabha elections.

Following her resignation, Matondkar stated that her “political and social sensibilities refuse 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”.

The Bollywood actor had on March 27 joined the Congress after meeting then party chief Rahul Gandhi at his residence.

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“I am here because I believe in the ideology of Congress and what the party stands for. I have not joined the party for the sake of elections,” she told the reporters after joining the party.

“I am taking my first step in active politics. I am from a family that has shaped my political views based on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. It is another matter that despite being from an academics-oriented family, I joined films. But I had social awareness right from childhood,” said the actor.

Urmila Matondkar was named as the Congress candidate for the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency and she contested the elections against sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gopal Shetty.

However, Matondkar lost by 4.6 lakh votes to Gopal Shetty in the General elections.

Married to Kashmiri actor-model-businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir, Urmila Matondkar is the second Bollywood actor to contest from Mumbai North.

Matondkar, who has several hit Hindi films to her name, has also acted in Marathi and South Indian films and even television serials and was last seen in Abhinay Deo’s 2018 film Blackmail. She also produced a Marathi film, Madhuri, in 2018 along with husband Mir.

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