Rebel AAP MLA Alka Lamba to resign from party, to contest Delhi polls as independent candidate
Rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Alka Lamba on Sunday said she will be resigning from the primary membership of the party over the differences with her colleagues. Lamba also said that she will be contesting the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls as an independent candidate.
However, Lamba clarified that she will continue to be an MLA of the assembly.
"I thought I should talk to the people and take a decision. It has been decided that I should break all ties with the Aam Aadmi Party and resign from its primary membership. I'll soon tender my resignation from the primary membership of AAP in writing. But I will continue to be an MLA," news agency ANI quoted Lamba as saying.
The Chandni Chowk MLA, who has been at odds with the party leadership for some time, said she took the decision after consulting the people of her constituency through a Jan Sabha.
Lamba had earlier told PTI that she had been disrespected by the party on several occasions. however, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj had called her a "chronic attention seeker".
"I'm not called to meetings. I am insulted repeatedly. I spent 20 years in the Congress, and while I struggled with family politics even there, I do not even get basic respect in AAP," news agency PTI quoted her as saying then.
After the Aam Aadmi Party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Lamba was removed from the official WhatsApp group of its lawmakers after she had sought accountability from party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
Lamba also refused to campaign for the party in the Lok Sabha polls and even refrained from participating in Kejriwal's roadshow after she was asked to walk behind his car during the event.
In April, Lamba engaged in a bitter Twitter spat with Bharadwaj, who in a taunt, had her to resign from the party.
She had first hit a rough patch with the AAP over its decision to pass a resolution to revoke Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna. Lamba had raised objections to the party's resolution.
In December, she said in a tweet that AAP had asked her to support the resolution, which she refused. Lamba then added that she was ready to face any punishment because of her actions. She had won the Chandni Chowk assembly seat in the 2013 Delhi elections. Before joining Kejriwal, she was part of the Congress women's wing.
(With PTI and ANI inputs)
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