MUMBAI: Actress-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar, who has officially joined Shiv Sena, says she has no interest in engaging in a war of words with actress Kangana Ranaut, adding that Kangana has been given much more importance than she actually deserves.
Speaking to IANS, Urmila further said the women's wing of Shiv Sena was strong, and that she would like to work with the wing.
Not long ago, Kangana had described Urmila as a "soft porn star", but Urmila says her new political status does not mean she will hit back.
"I will certainly not engage in any war of words with her. I am not a fan of her and I think we all have talked about her much more than what she actually deserves, so I don't think there is anything to talk about her. We live in a democratic country and all the citizens in our country have the right to freedom of speech, so they should do what they want to do, " said Urmila.
The controversy arose a few months ago when, speaking to a news channel, Kangana reacted to an interview that Urmila has given. In the interview, Urmila had reportedly questioned Kangana's motive while accusing Bollywood's alleged 'drug-mafia'. Reacting to the interview, Kangana said that Urmila was "making a mockery" of her struggles. She had also dismissed Urmila as a "soft porn star".
"I want to make it clear today that I did not give that interview to criticise her. It was just one of the parts of that interview and that is why I talked about her, so I feel that we should not talk about it anymore, " said Urmila.
Asked which issues she would like to focus on, Urmila replied: "I feel the women's wing of Shiv Sena is really strong, so I would be happy if I am given the opportunity to work with them. There is a lot of work to do but there is one thing I would like to begin my work with, which is the security and empowerment of women and girls in Maharashtra."
She added: "Women and girls from all parts of the country and even the world come to Mumbai and Maharashtra to build their careers. I feel these girl's parents send them with a lot of faith in this state because Mumbai is one of safest cities in the world. So, I am really proud of that fact being a Mumbaikar and I will definitely work on that front in future."
Urmila had joined Shiv Sena on Tuesday in the presence of party chief and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray's wife Rashmi Thackeray tied a Shiv Bandhan thread on Urmila's wrist.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, who left Congress a year ago, was also present at Urmila's induction to Shiv Sena, as was Mayor of Mumbai, Kishori Pednekar.
Soon after Urmila joined Shiv Sena, the party nominated her to the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC).