New Delhi: AAP's disgruntled MLA Alka Lamba on Sunday said she has decided to resign from the primary membership of the party and will contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls as an independent candidate.

The AAP said it is ready to accept her resignation even on Twitter.

The Chandni Chowk MLA, who has been at odds with the party leadership for some time, said she took the decision after consulting the people of her constituency through a Jan Sabha.

Lamba said she will soon resign from the primary membership of the party but will continue to be an MLA of the assembly.

Reacting to her remarks, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj in a tweet said, "She has announced this a dozen of times in the past. It takes 1 min to send a written resignation letter to party leadership. We will accept it on Twitter too." 

On Thursday, Lamba had told PTI that she had been disrespected by the party on several occasions.

After the Aam Aadmi Party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, she had sought accountability from party chief Arvind Kejriwal following which she was removed from the official WhatsApp group of its lawmakers.

Lamba also refused to campaign for the party in the Lok Sabha polls and even refrained from participating in Kejriwal's roadshow after she was asked to walk behind his car during the event.

In April, Lamba engaged in a bitter Twitter spat with Bhardwaj, who in taunt, had asked her to resign from the party.

She had first hit a rough patch with the AAP over its decision to pass a resolution to revoke Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna. Lamba had raised objections to the party's resolution.

In December, she said in a tweet that the AAP had asked her to support the resolution, which she refused. Lamba then added that she was ready to face any punishment because of her actions.

She had won the Chandni Chowk assembly seat in the 2013 Delhi election.

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Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.

The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.

On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."

His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.

In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”

Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”

Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.

After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.

“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.

“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”

Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.

Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay. 

Chaotic end to a poor season

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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.

It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.

Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.

Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.