Alka Lamba asked to quit AAP over Rajiv Gandhi Bharat Ratna row

Team Udayavani, Dec 22, 2018, 9:52 AM IST

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Alka Lamba on Friday night said that she will tender her resignation as “demanded” by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not supporting a resolution in the assembly on revoking late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna. 

The Delhi Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which it was demanded that the Bharat Ratna awarded to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn, but the AAP swiftly distanced itself from the reference to the Congress leader.

The matter became a major crisis with AAP MLA Alka Lamba alleging she was “put under pressure” to support the resolution, which she resisted and boycotted.

Lamba said she was ready to face “any consequences” and claimed she spoke to AAP supremo and CM Kejriwal who, she said, asked her to resign as MLA.

“I am ready to do so”, she said.

The Chandni Chowk MLA said she was not happy with the demand to take back Bharat Ratna from Rajiv Gandhi and staged a walkout in protest. Interestingly, the AAP later distanced itself from the resolution. “After I staged a walkout, I got a message from the chief minister to tender my resignation,” she told PTI.

When asked whether she will quit, Lamba added, “I have won on a party ticket. I will tender my resignation as demanded by the party,” the former Youth Congress leader said.

In a tweet, she said, “I was asked to support the resolution demanding taking back the Bharat Ratna awarded to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Since I didn’t agree to this, I staged a walk out. I am ready to accept whatever punishment given to me.”