Urmila Matondkar to be Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North 

Urmila Matondkar.

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar joined active politics two days ago. However, that didn’t come in her way to get a Lok Sabha ticket from the Congress, which has decided to field her from the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency. The grand old party announced her candidature on Friday.

She joined the party after meeting Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, and had later said that she was “here to stay”. She is pitted against BJP MP Gopal Shetty, who defeated former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll.

The actor said, “I am taking my first step in active politics. I am from a family that has shaped my political views based on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. It is another matter that despite being from an academics-oriented family, I joined films. But I had social awareness right from childhood.”

She further added, “I know when film stars enter politics, they are expected to pull in voters because of their glamour. I would request you to keep such thoughts away when it comes to me.”

According to media reports, the Congress was looking for a known face to stand against a strong candidate like Shetty and their search ended with Matondkar.

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