Urmila Matondkar dismisses rumours of joining Shiv Sena

Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar, who made headlines a year ago for contesting 2019 Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket, has denied joining Shiv Sena party in a recent interview. After several media reports suggested that Urmila will soon announce her re-entry into politics as a Shiv Sena party member, the actress came forward to clear the air and refuted all such claims.

In an interview with DNA, Urmila was asked whether she will join Maharashtra’s ruling party Shiv Sena or not. In reply, she said, “No, I am not.”

For the uninitiated, Harshal Pradhan, a close aide of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, had recently said that Urmila will join the party in the CM’s presence. It was also reported that her name has been forwarded to governor B S Koshyari by the Shiv Sena for nomination to the Legislative Council from the governor’s quota.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut had also recently said that the actress will be joining the party on Tuesday. “She [Urmila Matondkar] is a Shiv Sainik only. She will join the party by tomorrow. Our mahila aghadi is getting stronger,” Raut said.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the actress contested on a Congress ticket from the Mumbai North constituency. She lost the seat to BJP candidate Gopal Shetty. Later, she announced her exit from the party citing ‘petty in-house politics’ as the reason.