Have requested high command for ticket to Urmila Matondkar: Deora

Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora said Thursday that the city unit of the party has requested the high command to give a Lok Sabha ticket to actor Urmila Matondkar. Matondkar joined the Congress Wednesday after meeting party president Rahul Gandhi.

It is likely that she would be nominated from Mumbai North, as the party has already announced candidates from other four seats in Mumbai which it would be contesting. Deora, who took charge as the new Mumbai Congress chief, replacing Sanjay Nirupam, said, "We have requested party chief Rahul Gandhi to nominate Matondkar as a candidate." Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also said that Matondkar's candidature will be declared soon.

Speaking to reporters later, Matondkar said she wanted the politics of hatred which has grown by "leaps and bounds" in the last five years, to end. The money spent on "trolling and hatred" should have gone into development, she added.