New Delhi, June 16: Alka Lamba, parliamentary secretary to Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai, was axed as an Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson on Tuesday night after a gaffe that, on some interpretations, spilled one of the party's worst-kept secrets.
Rai had given up his transport portfolio citing ill health on Tuesday. Later, he appeared before the state's anti-corruption branch to answer questions on the controversial App-Based Premium Bus Service, which has been stalled by opposition from lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung.
Opposition leader Vijender Gupta has alleged the scheme means to favour a private shuttle bus operator.
Lamba, who accompanied Rai to the anti-corruption branch, told reporters at the spot that Rai had resigned to facilitate a free and fair probe. The party line, however, is that Rai had quit as he was recovering from spinal surgery.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in Delhi last year, two of its ministers have resigned after facing corruption charges.
Lamba retains her job as parliamentary secretary, a post equivalent to a deputy minister's. She made a series of philosophical tweets yesterday.
"What happened, happened for good. What is happening is happening for good. What will happen will happen for good. Worry is like a funeral pyre. Relieved n Relax... The yesterday that was someone else's, is yours now. Your tomorrow is someone else's. This wheel moves with the needles of time," she wrote.
After news reports of her removal appeared today, Lamba tweeted: "I am a disciplined activist of the party and respect every decision of the party. I will repent for any inadvertent mistake of mine so that no harm comes because of me to the party's fight against corruption. Jai Hind!"
Queried by the media, the party's Delhi unit convener, Dileep Pandey, said: "Please leave it to the party to decide whether she is kept as spokesperson or not."
Lamba, former president of the Congress student wing and the Delhi University students' union, joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2013. She dominates Hindi news channel debates and has been one of the party's most visible faces since the 2013 Assembly polls.
She was in the news last year when BJP lawmaker O.P. Sharma called her "a drug addict who roams here in the dead of the night".
These remarks had come after Lamba "raided" sweet shops in the capital's Yamuna Bazar for encroaching on sidewalks. Sharma stands suspended from the Assembly for his remarks.
In 2012, Lamba was removed from a probe panel of the National Commission for Women after she blurted out the name of an alleged victim of molestation.
The BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain tweeted: "Speaking truth is not allowed in AAP. Alka Lamba removed as she mentioned the real reason wrt removal of Gopal Rai."
