Year after quitting Congress, Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar joins Shiv Sena
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Actor turned politician Urmila Matondkar joins Shiv Sena, in the presence of party president Uddhav Thackeray (Image Courtesy : ANI)
Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar officially joined the Shiv Sena, in the presence of senior leaders, on Tuesday. Shiv Sena President and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accorded Matondkar a warm welcome to the party fold while his wife Rashmi Uddhav Thackeray tied her a thread, 'Shiv Bandhan' symbolizing her ties with the new party.
Soon after that, she bowed with folded hands and paid her respects before a wall-portrait of the founder-patriarch of Shiv Sena, the late Balasaheb Thackeray and his wife Meenatai Thackeray, at the Thackeray residence, 'Matoshri' in Bandra east.
The development came after Matondkar remained in a 'denial mode' for 14 months since she quit the Congress in September 2019, and even after she got a 'ticket' from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to the Maharashtra Legislature's upper house.
In anticipation of her joining, the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) last month (Nov. 2020) recommended Matondkar's name- along with 11 others of MVA-to Raj Bhavan for a coveted nomination to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from the quota of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Matondkar quit the Congress in a huff on September 10 last year, alleging party infighting, post-defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections at the hands of Bharatiya Janata Party's Gopal Shetty in Mumbai North constituency.
(With inputs from IANS)