Actor Urmila Matondkar joins Congress; may get Mumbai North seat

45-year old Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar joined the Congress on March 27. She was welcomed to the party by president Rahul Gandhi. Speculations suggest that Congress will nominate her as the candidate for Mumbai North constituency. If Congress nominates her, she will contest against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) incumbent MP Gopal Shetty.

The seat which was BJP’s turf for over two decades from 1989 to 2004, was snatched by the Congress when they fielded Bollywood actor Govinda Ahuja from the constituency in 2004. The Congress was able to retain the seat in 2009 elections with Sanjay Nirupam. Interestingly, Nirupam was a participant of the talk show Big Boss in 2008, making him a household name during the 2009 elections. Nirupam who got eliminated from the show’s second season within a few episodes, even asked the other contestants to vote for him, cites a rediff.com article.

Come 2014, Gopal Shetty, a former Borivali MLA, was elected from the Mumbai North constituency. With land mafia allegations and on-going investigations against Shetty, will the Congress’ jibe to field the yayire actor fetch them the Mumbai North seat again?