Delhi Aam Aadmi Party legislator Alka Lamba on Monday hinted that the party was excluding her from official discussions, PTI reported. Lamba told the news agency the party had removed her from their official WhatsApp groups and that party chief Arvind Kejriwal had unfollowed her on Twitter.
“I have a strong feeling that the party does not need my services at all,” she told PTI. “Such things, like removing me from WhatsApp groups, unfollowing on Twitter and not inviting me to meetings makes me feel that I deserve the same position and respect as other MLAs have. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for me to continue. I cannot compromise my self respect.”
In December 2018, the Chandni Chowk legislator had claimed that Kejriwal had asked her to resign for not supporting a proposal in the Assembly on revoking late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna because of his alleged failure to prevent the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. Later, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had asserted that there was no mention of such a demand in the proposal. AAP leader Manish Sisodia had refuted her claims.
The Kejriwal-led party has reportedly been considering a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in Delhi and political observers had speculated that Lamba was trying to hedge her bets with her criticism of AAP. In January, however, the party ruled out a possibility of such an alliance “in 2019 or beyond”.
Lamba dismissed the rumours. “It is being assumed that I am going to join the Congress though I have not uttered a word against the AAP or its leaders,” Lamba said. “But on the other hand, efforts to ally with the Congress through a “Mahagathbandhan’’ [grand alliance] is considered okay.”
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