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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Urmila Matondkar joins Congress, says party stands for freedom
The actor is said to be in the reckoning for a Congress nomination from Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency.
Popular Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar on Tuesday joined the Congress in the presence of party’s Mumbai chief Milind Deora. She earlier met party president Rahul Gandhi at his residence.
“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 reporters.
“I am here to stay,” she said, adding her entry in the Congress was not about elections.
Watch: Lok Sabha elections 2019: Actor Urmila Matondkar joins Congress
Matondkar said she felt the need to join the Congress party as the freedom to express was under attack in the country and there are numerous examples in this regard in the last five years. She said the Congress party has participated in the freedom struggle and it stood for freedom.
“Today is a significant day for me as I have formally entered politics. My life has been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi from the days of my childhood,” she also said.
Matondkar also lauded the leadership of Gandhi. She said he is the one who takes everyone along and such a leader is required in today’s times.
The ‘Masoom’ (1983) child actress is said to be in the reckoning for a Congress nomination from Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency.
If nominated, Matondkar’s formidable rival would be Bharatiya Janata Party incumbent MP Gopal Shetty in the constituency that was once regarded a BJP bastion.
Incidentally, besides Mumbai North-West (now, Mumbai North-Central) constituency, the Mumbai North is the only Lok Sabha seat in the country’s commercial capital which has ever elected a well-known film personality.
The name of Matondkar, 45, has been doing the rounds since the past few days as the Congress grappled for an effective counter to the BJP.
Mumbai’s six Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on April 29 along with 17 others in the state’s fourth phase of polling.
Matondkar started her career as a child star aged seven in a Marathi film, ‘Zaakol’ (1980), and later her first role in Bollywood in the Shashi Kapoor-Rekha starrer ‘Kalyug’ (1981).
But, it was the highly-acclaimed Shekhar Kapur-directed film, ‘Masoom’ (1983) that catapulted her to fame as a child actress and significantly boosted her film career.
