NEW DELHI: Disgruntled Aam Aadmi Party MLA Alka Lamba on Tuesday met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. The meeting fuelled speculation that Lamba might return to the grand old party ahead of the Delhi assembly elections scheduled for early next year.Lamba, however, said that she had met Gandhi to discuss a number of issues, including the current political situation in the country. The MLA had started her political career with the Congress, and served the party in various capacities for around 20 years before joining the AAP.
In 1996, Lamba had contested the post of Delhi University Student Union president as a candidate of the National Students’ Union of India, the student wing of the Congress, and won. In 2003, she was fielded against former Delhi chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Madan Lal Khurana from the Moti Nagar seat but lost. In December 2014, she joined AAP.
The AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk had last month announced that she had made up her mind about leaving the party and she might contest the upcoming Assembly election as an independent candidate.Rajesh Lilothia, working president of Delhi Congress, said that he had no idea about the possibility of her joining the Congress.
“It was perhaps a courtesy meeting (with Gandhi). The Congress president’s door is always open. Any leader may go and meet her. She has been abandoned by her party. She must be looking for options. I think she is not comfortable with the BJP’s ideology, therefore she may want to join the Congress, but I have no information about it,’ he said. Lamba has been at odds with the AAP leadership for some time now.
AT ODDS
Alka Lamba has been at odds with the AAP leadership for some time now. After the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, she had sought accountability from its national convener Arvind Kejriwal. She was then removed from the official WhatsApp group of AAP MLAs. She first hit a rough patch with the AAP over its decision to pass a resolution calling for Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna award to be taken back. Lamba had objected to the party’s resolution.