AAP Lawmaker Alka Lamba meets Cong. Prez. Sonia Gandhi
ANUP SINHA
NEW DELHI : Aam Aadmi Party legislator Alka Lamba, who had earlier announced that she would quit the party in 2020, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, triggering buzz that the 43-year-old lawmaker may go back to her parent party.
Calling Gandhi a towering leader of secular thought, Lamba tweeted after the meeting: ”Discussion with Smt Sonia Gandhi on current affairs was long due. Today, got a chance to discuss all issues with her. In politics, such interactions have been going on and must continue.”
next year.
Alka Lamba was non-committal. She said she met the Congress president to discuss a number of issues, including the current political situation of the country.Lamba started her political career with the Congress, her party of around 20 years before she joined Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP.
The AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk had last month announced that she has made up her mind about leaving the party and contesting the assembly election as an Independent. The 43-year-old leader has been at odds with AAP for some time now. After the party’s defeat in Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, she had sought accountability from Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi. She was then removed from the official WhatsApp group of party MLAs.
She had also refused to campaign for the party in the national election and had opted out of Mr Kejriwal’s roadshow after she was asked to walk behind his car.Ms Lamba first hit a rough patch with AAP over its decision to pass a resolution to revoke former prime minister and Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna. She had raised objections to the party’s resolution.
Lamba, who started off as a student leader in the Congress in 1994, has in recent past openly spoken against the AAP. “My journey started with you in 2013 will end in 2020. My best wishes will be with the dedicated revolutionary ground workers of the party, hopefully you will remain a strong alternative in Delhi. The last six years have been memorable and I have learnt a lot from you,” the Chandni Chowk MLA said in a tweet in June.
Given her constant sparring with AAP leaders, she has been removed from various party WhatsApp groups. She refused to campaign for the party during the Lok Sabha election and did not even participate in Kejriwal’s roadshow as she was asked to walk behind his car during the event.
In April, Lamba engaged in a bitter Twitter spat with AAP’s Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, who dared her to resign from the party. Following the spat, Lamba addressed a large crowd outside Jama Masjid and alleged that the party leadership was “weakening” her.
She had earlier upset AAP leaders over their decision to pass a resolution to revoke Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna over his comments on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Lamba had raised objections to the party’s resolution and said that she was ready to face any punishment because of her actions.
After her stint as a student leader, Lamba was appointed the general secretary of All India Mahila Congress in 2002. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contested Delhi Assembly elections from Moti Nagar Constituency against senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana.
She quit the Congress in December 2014 to join AAP and in 2015 won from the Chandni Chowk assembly constituency defeating her nearest rival, Suman Kumar Gupta of the BJP.(With Agency Inputs ).
