Delhi legislator Alka Lamba on Friday said she will resign from the Aam Aadmi Party after party chief Arvind Kejriwal allegedly asked to her to do so for not supporting a proposal in the Assembly on revoking late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna, PTI reported.
Lamba tweeted on Friday that she had walked out of the House after refusing to support the resolution and that she was ready to face punishment for her action. “After I staged a walkout, I got a message from the chief minister [Arvind Kejriwal] to tender my resignation,” she told PTI.
“Party has asked for my resignation,” ANI quoted Lamba as saying. “I’m ready to resign but Rajiv Gandhi has sacrificed a lot for country [and] I didn’t support the proposal in Assembly of taking back his Bharat Ratna. I’ve been asked to resign because I stood against the decision of the party.”
“I have won on a party ticket,” Lamba said, according to PTI. “I will tender my resignation as demanded by the party.” Lamba is the party’s MLA from Chandni Chowk.
Lamba has reportedly been asked to resign from the Delhi Assembly and the party’s primary membership.
The Delhi Assembly on Friday passed a resolution to demand the setting up of fast-track courts to deal with cases related to the anti-Sikh violence of 1984. MLA Somnath Bharti demanded an addition to the resolution that Gandhi be stripped of the Bharat Ratna for his remarks that were seen as justifying the violence.
Bharti made the demand to withdraw the honour during the discussion of a resolution moved by another MLA, Jarnail Singh, to demand that the Delhi government write to the Centre about the violence. Bharti later clarified that although he had suggested the demand as an amendment to Singh’s resolution, it was not put to vote. “I further clarify that amendment I proposed was not put to vote as an amendment and hence there is no question of passing the same.”
AAP legislator Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed Bharti had “scribbled an amendment” about withdrawing the Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna and that it was not part of the original resolution. “Original resolution with demands of declaring 1984 riots as genocide [and] fast-track courts has been passed,” ANI quoted Bharadwaj as saying. “Proposal by Bharti remained proposal [and] couldn’t be passed.”
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