Phoolka: Want to quit as Punjab LoP to fight 1984 victims' cases

Chandigarh/New Delhi, July 9 (SURYAA): Senior lawyer and AAP legislator H.S. Phoolka on Sunday said he wants to resign as the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly so as to be able to continue to fight cases of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims in courts.

The move follows directions from the Delhi Bar Council disallowing Phoolka from contesting cases of the riot victims in various courts, saying that he held an "office of profit" being Leader of Opposition.

Phoolka said that he had asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal to select somebody else as the legislature party leader and suggested three names - Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Kanwar Sandhu and Aman Arora. It was not known yet if he had submitted his resignation yet.

"I will continue to fight for the rights of the riot victims which I have been doing for so many years," Phoolka, a Supreme Court lawyer, said in New Delhi.

Having emerged as the second largest party with 20 legislators in the 117-member Assembly in the elections held in February this year, the AAP has got the post of the Leader of Opposition. This was the first outing for AAP in the Punjab Assembly polls.

It named Phoolka as its leader in the house in March this year after the election results.