AAP has not sought Lamba's resignation: Sisodia
New Delhi, Dec 22: Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia Saturday rejected party MLA Alka Lamba's claim that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had "demanded" her resignation for not supporting a resolution in the assembly on revoking late PM Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna.
"Neither any resignation has been sought (from Lamba) and nor is anyone resigning," Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, told reporters at a press conference here.
Separately, Lamba told PTI, "I am not resigning."
The Delhi Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which it was demanded that the Bharat Ratna awarded to Gandhi be withdrawn, but the AAP swiftly distanced itself from the reference to the Congress leader.
The matter became a major crisis within the AAP with Lamba alleging on Friday that she was "put under pressure" to support the resolution, which she resisted and boycotted.
She claimed she spoke to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Kejriwal who, she said, asked her to resign as MLA. "I am ready to do so," she had said.
Sisodia told reporters, "The aim of the original resolution, moved by MLA Jarnail Singh, was only to help the victims of 1984 riots get justice. No resolution mentioning late PM Rajiv Gandhi was passed in the Assembly as being reported in the media."
He clarified that the lines about Gandhi were not part of the original resolution placed before the House.
It was a handwritten amendment proposed by a member and it cannot be passed in such a manner, he added.
Asked if the party will take any action against Bharti, Sisodia said it will talk to him on the matter.
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj, who narrated the entire sequence of events in the Assembly, clarified that any amendment to a resolution can become a part of the original only after it has been separately voted on by the House, which did not happen in this case.
"There was no mention of Rajiv Gandhi in the original resolution. It was an individual handwritten proposal by MLA Somnath Bharti," he said.
Jarnail Singh, while moving the resolution in the Assembly, had mentioned Gandhi's name while reading the text and demanded that the Congress leader's Bharat Ratna be withdrawn for "justifying the anti-Sikh riots".
Later, he had said though the reference to Gandhi in the resolution was not there in the written copies, it was made orally and passed by the House by voice vote.
The resolution called for speedy trial of cases and termed anti-Sikh riots as genocide.
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KKR defeat LSG via Super Over
Lucknow (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders edged Lucknow Super Giants via Super Overs in a battle between two bottom-placed teams in the IPL, here on Sunday.
Chasing a modest 156, LSG suffered a batting collapse and managed to tie the contest and take it to Super Over with No. 9 Mohammed Shami striking a last-ball six against a wayward Kartik Tyagi, who leaked 16 runs in the final over.
But Sunil Narine bowled a stunning Super Over conceding just one run and taking two wickets to give KKR an easy target.
Rinku Singh then finished the chase with a boundary off first ball from Prince Yadav.
Earlier the KKR were in deep trouble with 93/7 in 15 overs but Rinku smashed a sensational 83 not out from 51 balls including four sixes in a row in the final over to lift them to 155/7.
Cameron Green (34) was the only other batter to reach double-digit scores as KKR suffered a familiar batting meltdown with Mohsin taking his maiden fifer.
In reply, LSG continued their dismal show with the bat to succumb to their fifth loss in a row.
Brief Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 155/7; 20 overs (Rinku Singh 83 not out, Cameron Green 34; Mohsin Khan 5/23). Lucknow Super Giants 155/8; 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 42). KKR won via Super Over.
