NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections, former Maharashtra minister and senior Congress leader Kripashankar Singh and actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar, who had joined ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, resigned from the grand old party on Tuesday.
Speculations regarding Singh joining the BJP were doing the rounds for a few months now. In June, Singh had met Prasad Lad, vice president Maharashtra BJP and a close aide of CM Devendra Fadnavis. Earlier, Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil quit the party and joined the BJP.
Singh submitted his resignation to AICC in charge Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge. It came on a day when the party’s screening committee for Maharashtra held its meeting. Singh was a minister of state for home affairs in the Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet.
Refusing to be used by fellow politicians as a means to score goals in internal politics, Matondkar had been unhappy about the performance of some party leaders. She had criticised aides of Sanjay Nirupam, who said the actress should have been patient with the party. “First thought of resignation came to me when after my repeated efforts no action was taken in pursuance of my letter dated 16th May, addressed to then Mumbai Congress President Milind Deora. Thereafter, to my utter dismay, the said letter containing privileged and confidential communication was conveniently leaked... Needless to say, no one from the party was apologetic or even concerned towards me...,” Matondkar said in a statement.
Deora, however, said he supported her campaign wholeheartedly as Mumbai Congress President.