Urmila Matondkar joins Shiv Sena over a year after quitting Congress

Mumbai: Actor Urmila Matondkar joined the Shiv Sena on Tuesday in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Welcoming her into the party, Thackeray’s wife Rashmi tied Shivbandhan (saffron thread) on Urmila’s wrist.

Matondkar has already been nominated by the Sena, under the Governor’s quota, to the state’s legislative council.

Matondkar, 46, had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Mumbai North constituency on a Congress ticket and lost by a huge margin to sitting BJP MP Gopal Shetty.

In September 2019, just before the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Matondkar quit the Congress citing “petty in-house politics”.

Matondkar recently took on fellow actor Kangana Ranaut, who equated Mumbai to “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir” and targeted the chief minister.