Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar resigned from the Congress party on Tuesday. “My political and social sensibilities refuse to allow vested interests in the party to use me as a mean to fight petty in-house politics instead of working on a bigger goal in Mumbai Congress,” she said in a press note, according to ANI.
Matondkar, who had joined the party in March, was the Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North. However, she lost to incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gopal Shetty.
In a letter, dated May 16, Matondkar had criticised the conduct of Maharashtra Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam’s associates Sandesh Kondvilkar and Bhushan Patil. This led to a rift in the party as Nirupam later lashed out at party colleague Milind Deora.
In the letter, Matondkar accused Kondvilkar and Patil of “total lack of coordination, honesty and efficiency, ensuring a disastrous outcome” in the Lok Sabha elections. She added that the party had failed to mobilise workers at the grassroots level, coordinate at the local level, and provide her resources for her campaign.
The actor-turned-politician had also accused Kondvilkar of calling up her family members to ask for campaign money. She also claimed that Kondvilkar told her family to ask party Treasurer Ahmed Patel for the funds. Matondkar sought disciplinary action against Kondvilkar and Patil, and asked for changes at the organisational level to improve the party’s chances of electoral success in the future.
Referring to the letter on Tuesday, Matondkar said “privileged and confidential communication was conveniently leaked to the media which according to me was an act of blatant betrayal”, NDTV reported.
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