I am not joining any political party: Urmila Matondkar
Mumbai, Sep 17: Amid speculation that the Shiv Sena might be her next choice after quitting the Congress recently, actress-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar on Tuesday sought to put such reports to rest, saying she is not joining any political party.
Urmila's clarification comes in the wake of reports that she was in touch with Uddhav Thackeray's close aide Milind Narvekar since she walked out of the Congress, and might consider joining the Sena, the main constituent of the BJP-led Maharashtra and Central governments.
Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra next month.
She had announced her resignation from the Congress owing to "petty in-house politics" on September 10 this year within six months of joining the Grand Old Party and unsuccessfully contesting her maiden election from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat against BJP's Gopal Shetty.
Urmila had then said that she stood by her "thoughts and ideologies" and will continue to work for the people.
"I am not joining any other party so it's a kind request to the media to kindly not share whatever they hear.
It is unfair towards me to say the least and also not appropriate towards any party," she said in a statement on Tuesday.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
