New Delhi: AAP's disgruntled MLA Alka Lamba on Sunday said she has decided to resign from the primary membership of the party and will contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls as an independent candidate.
The AAP said it is ready to accept her resignation even on Twitter. The party alleged that Lamba has been neglecting her constituency as she is always "busy in foreign tours and vacations". 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 said she will soon resign from the primary membership of the party but will continue to be an MLA of the assembly.
"I will consult with experts to understand that if I quit the party would I be able to continue my work as the MLA. I will not quit as an MLA because I have responsibility towards people. If AAP has the courage then it should expel me from the party but its leaders wouldn't do that as they are cowards," she told reporters here. Reacting to her remarks, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said instead of seeking media attention, she should send her resignation.
"Alka Lamba has not worked in her constituency and has been absconding from Chandni Chowk. Alka has been busy in foreign tours and vacations around the year," he claimed. "Alka has repeated this a dozen times that she has resigned from AAP but is yet to send a resignation letter. If Alka Lamba has lost faith in this party, why is she not resigning from primary membership of the party? Instead of seeking media attention, she should show her resignation letter," he added.
Earlier in the day, Bhardwaj in a tweet said, "She has announced this a dozen of times in the past. It takes 1 min to send a written resignation letter to party leadership. We will accept it on Twitter too." On Thursday, Lamba had told PTI that she had been disrespected by the party on several occasions. After the Aam Aadmi Party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, she had sought accountability from party chief Arvind Kejriwal following which she was removed from the official WhatsApp group of its lawmakers.
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 Bhardwaj, who in a taunt, had asked 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 the 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 election.
