Water, Electricity, Housing: Urmila’s Top Focus Areas Upon Winning

Urmila Matondkar started her political innings by joining the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi on 27 March.

Rahul Gandhi with Urmila Matondkar.

(Photo: ANI)

Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar started her political innings by joining the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, 27 March.

On Friday, 29 March, the party announced that it would field Matondkar from Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, two days after she joined the party.

"The Congress central election committee has approved the candidature of Urmila Matondkar as party candidate to contest the ensuing general elections from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra," a party statement had said.

The actor-turned-politician spoke to BloombergQuint's Tamanna Inamdar on why she chose politics, while also outlining the top three issues of her political campaign.

Speaking on why she had ventured into the political fray, and into a “tough contest”, Matondkar said that "contesting the election was not my prerogative or thought to begin with, but joining the party was."

Matondkar had, at an earlier instance, said that she did not have any specific agenda for the Lok Sabha elections and that “honesty is her only agenda”, news agency IANS reported on Saturday, 30 March.

Responding to a question on her plans of being a “full-time politician”, Matondkar said, “it speaks about their prototypes, not mine. Prototypes aren’t what I have followed in my life and I am not going to do it (even) now.”

"Eventually, your actions and time are the best solutions for most things,” she said, adding that "only time will tell."

Upon joining the party, the 45-year-old had dismissed apprehensions on her political role, saying: "I am here to stay – even after the elections."

On how she plans to change the lives of people if she wins the election, the actor said: "There's a misconception about me that I don't know much about the issues of this city (Mumbai). I have been born and brought up here.”

“As of now, I know much more than most people, and I have made it my business to go to the bottom of it so that I can bring the change which needs to be brought in.” 

Urmila said in reference to Mumbai North parliamentary constituency

Matondkar mentioned a range of issues plaguing the constituency she is fighting from, including water scarcity, housing, local trains, women's health and lack of basic infrastructure, and said that “water, electricity and housing” will be her top priorities if elected to power.

“Water scarcity is the most acute issue in the constituency. Housing is an extremely dismal situation,” the actor said.

Matondkar is pitted against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Gopal Shetty, who defeated former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

On her assessment of Shetty, Matondkar said "Unfortunately, the man who has had a great political career has given an extremely dismal performance.”

After joining the party, Matondkar had said she felt the need to join the Congress party as the freedom to express was under attack in the country, and that there were numerous examples in this regard over the last five years.

She had said that the Congress party has participated in the freedom struggle and that it stood for freedom.

Mumbai's six Lok Sabha constituencies go to polls in the fourth phase on 29 April.

(With inputs from IANS)