Congress’ Milind Deora on Tuesday said that Mumbai North leaders “must be held accountable” for actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar’s resignation from the party.

“After Urmila Matondkar decided to fight the Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai North, I supported her campaign wholeheartedly as the (Mumbai Congress) President. I stood by her when she was let down by those who brought her into the party. Fully agree that Mumbai North leaders must be held accountable!” he tweeted.

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Bollywood actor, Urmila Matondkar, who had joined the Congress in March, resigned from the party on Tuesday blaming it of indulging in “petty in-house politics”.

Following her resignation, Matondkar stated that her “political and social sensibilities refuse to allow vested interests in the party to use her as a means to fight petty in-house politics instead of working on a bigger goal in Mumbai Congress”.

In a terse letter to interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi dated September 7, Matondkar had alleged ‘betrayal’ by the party.

“I hereby resign from the Indian National Congress (INC) as a member and from any post held in the INC. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to work for INC,” said the Bollywood actress.

She said the first thoughts of resigning from the party came when — despite her repeated efforts — no action was taken in pursuance of her explosive letter dated May 16 to the former Mumbai Congress President Milind Deora, which was ‘leaked’ in early July.

“Thereafter, to my utter dismay, the said letter containing privileged and confidential communication was conveniently leaked to the media, which according to me was an act of blatant betrayal,” Urmila Matondkar said.

She claimed that nobody from the party was apologetic for the leak of the nine-page letter, nor was anybody concerned for her despite her repeated protests over the issue.

In the letter, Matondkar had named certain key persons in the party’s local units at the block and ward levels and other infighting which reportedly resulted in her maiden electoral loss in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.

On the contrary, she pointed out that the persons she had specifically mentioned in the letter to Deora for their “shoddy performance” in Mumbai Congress were rewarded with newer positions, instead of being held accountable for their acts and omissions.

“It is obvious that the key functionaries of Mumbai Congress are either unable or not committed to bring about a change and transformation in the organisation for the betterment of the party,” a peeved Matondkar pointed out.

“I stand by all my thoughts and ideologies and will continue to work for the people to the best of my capacity with honesty and dignity. I thank all the people who helped and supported me through my journey,” she signed off.

After joining the party on March 27, Matondkar told reporters: “I am here because I believe in the ideology of Congress and what the party stands for. I have not joined the party for the sake of elections”.

Urmila Matondkar was named as the Congress candidate for the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency and she contested against sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gopal Shetty.

However, Matondkar lost by 4.6 lakh votes to Gopal Shetty in the General elections.

Married to Kashmiri actor-model-businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir, Urmila Matondkar is the second Bollywood actor to contest from Mumbai North.