Phoolka resigns from AAP
CHANDIGARH : Dakha MLA Harvinder Singh Phoolka, who led the legal battle in the 1984 antisikh riot cases in Delhi, on Thursday resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Phoolka took to Twitter, a social networking service, to announce his separation from the party.
“I have quit AAP and handed over my resignation to party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal today. Though he asked me not to resign but I insisted,” he tweeted.
When contacted, Phoolka declined to say anything more. “I will hold a press conference in Delhi tomorrow (Friday) to explain the reason for leaving the AAP and my future plans,” he said.
His resignation, which is being seen as a setback for the AAP, came on a day Kejriwal held a meeting with 1,500 party leaders and office-bearers from Punjab to chalk out a strategy for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. AAP leaders in Punjab, where the party has been grappling with internal feuds, seemed reluctant to give their reaction.
“I do not know why he quit. Let’s wait for his statement,” said AAP legislature party leader Harpal Singh Cheema.
A human rights champion, Phoolka, who played a key role in the legal battle that sent Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to jail for life, had tendered his resignation from the membership of the Punjab assembly in October 2017, to protest against the failure of the state government to take action against former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and retired director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in sacrilege and police firing cases in the state.
Though his resignation from the state assembly has not yet been accepted, Phoolka will cease to be a member as he has quit the party from which he was elected.
It will also pave way for a bypoll in his constituency — Dakha.
In July 2017, the first-time MLA had quit the post of leader of opposition in the state assembly to continue fighting the riot cases in Delhi
courts.
DAKHA MLA SAYS HE HAS HANDED OVER HIS RESIGNATION TO PARTY CONVENER AND DELHI CHIEF MINISTER ARVIND KEJRIWAL