AAP lawmaker Alka Lamba to resign from party's primary membership

MLA Alka Lamba has decided to quit from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Making the announcement, the disgruntled lawmaker, said that she has decided to break all ties with the ruling party in Delhi and will soon tender her resignation in writing. 

“I thought I should talk to people and take a decision. It has been decided that I should break all ties with Aam Aadmi Party and resign from its primary membership. I'll tender my resignation from the primary membership of AAP, soon in writing. I will continue to be an MLA.

Earlier, Lamba said she has made up her mind to quit the party and is mulling contesting the upcoming Delhi assembly elections as an independent candidate. However, the Aam Aadmi Party called it a "publicity stunt".  Assembly elections in Delhi are due early next year.

AAP's Chandni Chowk MLA said she had been disrespected by the party on several occasion.

"I am not called to meetings. I am insulted repeatedly. I spent 20 years in the Congress and even there I struggled with family politics but in the AAP I do not get the basic respect," she claimed.

"I have made up my mind to quit the party and will make an official announcement on August 4 if I would contest independently or not," she told PTI.

"The day I spend the money allocated to me for the development work of my assembly, the next day I will quit the party," she said

Lamba has been at odds with the party for some time now.  After the party's defeat in Lok Sabha polls, she had sought accountability from AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal following which she was removed from the official WhatsApp group of the party 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 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.