Urmila Matondkar, who joined the Shiv Sena on December 1, 2020, donated Rs. 20 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in July 2020. The donation was made with the amount left over from the Rs. 50 lakh given to her by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when she was a part of the Congress party. Urmila had lost the elections to BJP’s Gopal Shetty.
By tradition, money that remains unspent is usually returned to the same party. Congress leader and MPCC treasurer Suresh Shetty said that Urmila ought to have returned the money to the Congress party only. However, Urmila said, she had a go-ahead for the donation from state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat.