Urmila Matondkar, Bollywood actor-turned-politician who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket and resigned five months later, is all set to join the Shiv Sena. Urmila Matondkar will join Shiv Sena on Monday, over a year after leading the Congress party. No further details about her joining the Shiv Sena have been shared. The development comes a year after Urmila Matondkar resigned from the primary membership of the Congress, citing petty politics as the reason. Urmila Matondkar had joined the Congress in March 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and exited it in September 2019.
In her statement, Urmila Matondkar said, "My political and social sensibilities refuse to allow vested interests in the party to use me as a means to fight petty in-house politics instead of working on a bigger goal in Mumbai Congress. "Interestingly, the development comes amid a recent fallout with Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut after the latter equated Mumbai to “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”, launching a sharp attack on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the BMC demolishing her office at Mumbai’s Pali Hill.The 46-year-old actor said she would continue to work for people with honesty and dignity, thanking all those who helped and supported her in her political journey.