Urmila Matondkar, who shot into fame with the film Rangeela, may be set to add a dash of colour to the husting... Read More

MUMBAI: Urmila Matondkar , who shot into fame with the film Rangeela, may be set to add a dash of colour to the hustings. The Congress is likely to field her against the BJP’s Gopal Shetty from the Mumbai North constituency . Besides being a movie star, Matondkar (45) is known for taking up humanitarian causes, especially for underprivileged women and children.

Outgoing Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam, accompanied by Milind Deora, the new city party chief, confirmed that talks are on with the actor. “We had a brief meeting with her. We have requested her to contest the Lok Sabha polls from North Mumbai,” Nirupam said. The Congress leadership feels that Matondkar will accept the party’s proposal and win by a huge margin. “We are sure, she will accept. If she wins, she will be an asset for the Congress,” said a senior Congress leader. In the recent past, leading Marathi actors Shilpa Shinde and Asawari Joshi have joined the Congress.

Congress has been in search of a high profile candidate to take on Shetty. Initially, it was suggested that either actor Raj Babbar or former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin would contest as Congress nominees, but both declined. Then there were reports that senior party leader Mahesh Chaturvedi would be fielded, but he too expressed his unwillingness.

In the 2014 polls, Shetty defeated Nirupam in Mumbai North by a margin of over 4.46 lakh votes, prompting the latter to scout for a safe constituency. Nirupam has now received a goahead to contest from Mumbai North-West, once represented by the late Gurudas Kamat.

For a long time, Mumbai North was represented by veteran BJP leader Ram Naik, now governor of Uttar Pradesh. In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Naik was defeated by actor Govinda (Congress), who polled 5.59 lakh votes against Naik’s 5.11 lakh. In the 2009 polls, Naik was defeated by Nirupam by a narrow margin. Nirupam polled 2.55 lakh votes against Naik’s 2.49 lakh. Following successive defeats in two general elections, Naik retired from electoral politics.



In Video: Urmila Matondkar to contest Lok Sabha polls from North Mumbai?