Shiv Sena likely to nominate actress Urmila Matondkar to the Maharashtra Legislative Council

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena is likely to get actress Urmila Matondkar to be the Sena nominee to the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC).
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has himself called up Matondkar to seek her consent and Shiv Sena leaders say that she has agreed.

An official confirmation from the actress is yet to come. The Sena is also yet to make an announcement, indicating that the process is still on.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told reporters earlier in the day: “I have heard about the speculation that she will be nominated to the Legislative Council. This is the prerogative of the state cabinet, which has authorised the chief minister to take a decision.”

Matondkar is yet to respond to messages sent by ET.

The Sena sounding out Matondkar to include her name in the list of four MLCs who would be nominated to the Legislative Council comes even as the equations between Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi have been frosty at best.

Twelve MLCs can be nominated under the governor’s quota to the Legislative Council under the social, cultural and sports category. This rule is seldom followed by political parties in many states who send politicians to the Legislative Council.

However, sending politicians under the Governor’s quota would be difficult this time as there are possibilities that Koshyari may reject the names if they don’t come under the social, cultural and sports fields. Koshyari has been at logger heads with the MVA ever since the government was formed.

The Governor had refused to nominate Uddhav from his quota early this year after the MVA government requested him to do so. He later had the state call a special session in May before allowing Uddhav to become an MLC.

Recommending Matondkar’s name would help the Sena as the actress cum politician comes under the cultural field quota. She will also come in handy for the Sena to beat the BJP and also take on Kangana Ranaut as she is a good public speaker.

Matondkar had joined the Congress before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and had fought as the party candidate against BJP’s Gopal Shetty in Mumbai North constituency. She lost the polls and had quit the party claiming internal fighting within the party.

Of the remaining three seats for the Sena, one is likely to go to Aadesh Bandekar, an actor who has been in the Sena. It remains to be seen who the Sena will nominate to the other two seats. Of the 12 seats in the Governor’s quota the Sena, Congress and NCP have got four seats each. The NCP is planning to send former BJP leader Eknath Khadse to the legislative council. However, there is a big question mark on whether any of the politicians who are nominated would be accepted by the Governor.