Alka Lamba was associated with the Congress for over 20 years before she joined AAP (File)
Alka Lamba, who had tweeted her resignation from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) earlier this month, has been disqualified as an MLA "on grounds of defection". Ms Lamba had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and announced that she had joined the party.
On Wednesday, Alka Lamba, responding to a petition to disqualify her, had said she had never submitted her resignation in writing, that her tweets didn't count.
The disqualification petition was moved by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj days after she tweeted that it was "time to say goodbye" and urged AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to "accept her resignation". She also tweeted a photo with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, fueling buzz of her return to her old party.
Facing disqualification as an MLA, she backtracked and told the Delhi Speaker she had never submitted a resignation letter to AAP.
"I was asked if I had joined the Congress officially. I told him (Speaker Ram Niwas Goel) no. He also asked if I resigned from the AAP in written, I again said no. These two are facts and truth. My picture with Sonia Gandhi was shown in the Assembly. When asked about it, I showed Arvind Kejriwal's photo with Lalu Prasad Yadav and asked what could be implied," she said.
Ms Lamba was associated with the Congress for over 20 years before she joined AAP in 2014.
In tweets earlier today, she alleged that the Speaker and the AAP leadership were asking her to quit officially. In a series of tweets, she dared party chief Arvind Kejriwal to sack her.
"You had arrogantly asked me to resign on Twitter, which I did. If this is not serving your purpose, it is neither my problem nor of my people's," she tweeted in Hindi.
"It is something to think about and you can ask your party's leader AK (Arvind Kejriwal); if Alka Lamba was working against the party, why wasn't she expelled? It is not too late. Expel me from the party instead of asking for a written resignation or pressuring the Speaker. Don't know what are they afraid of?" she added.
Ms Lamba had won the 2015 Delhi election from Chandni Chowk. Earlier this year, she had alleged she was sidelined by the AAP leadership.
After the party's drubbing in Delhi in the national election earlier this year, Ms Lamba had riled her AAP bosses by demanding accountability from Arvind Kejriwal. She was also dropped from the party's WhatsApp group.