A day after Bollywood actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol appointed his “representative” to look after work in his constituency, the BJP’s Gurdaspur MP on Tuesday expressed his unhappiness for creating a controversy “out of nothing”.
Sunny Deol, in an official letter, appointed a writer Gurpreet Singh Palheri as his representative to “attend meetings and follow important matters” — a move which failed to go down well with his rival and a section of people of his constituency ho criticised his decision terming it as “betrayal of the voters’ mandate”.
In an attempt to silence his critics, Sunny Deol tweeted his response on Tuesday saying that the appointment was made to “ensure smooth flow of work” whenever he was “out of Gurdaspur”.
The first-time MP added that it was “extremely unfortunate to see a controversy being created out of nothing at all”.
Deol contended, “I have appointed my PA (Personal Assistant) to represent my office in Gurdaspur. This appointment has been made to ensure smooth flow of work whenever I am out of Gurdaspur to attend Parliament or travelling for work.”
He stated that the intention behind such an appointment was “to merely ensure that no work is disrupted or delayed due to any reason whatsoever and to keep myself updated on daily basis”.
“We have our entire party leadership in the constituency to look into matters and have my full support and vice versa. I, as an elected Member of Parliament, am genuinely committed to the cause of Gurdaspur and will do my best to ensure that I serve my people to the best of my capacity,” he wrote on his Twitter handle.
In a letter issued on the letterhead of the Gurdaspur MP, Deol on Monday appointed Palheri as his “representative”.
“I hereby appoint Gurpreet Singh Palheri, son of Supinder Singh, resident of village Palheri, district Mohali, Punjab, as my representative to attend meetings and follow important matters pertaining to my Parliamentary constituency, Gurdaspur (Punjab), with concerned authorities,” the letter signed by Deol read.
Punjab Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa lashed out at Deol for appointing a representative and dubbed the move a “betrayal” of the voters of the border constituency.
Sources in the party maintained that Palheri had also been authorised to take up the issues related to Gurdaspur with Deputy Commissioner Vipul Ujjwal. “Palheri’s appointment is a clear-cut indication that he has been authorised to chair meetings including review meetings of the Central Government-sponsored schemes on behalf of the MP,” a senior BJP leader said.
Palheri has acted in Deol’s movies, including Yamla Pagla Deewana, Ghayal Once Again, Son of Sardar, Manje Bistre, among others.
The newly-elected MP had faced flak last month from the people of the constituency after he posted a video of his vacation in Kaza on Instagram.
Deol defeated Congress’ Sunil Jakhar with a margin of 82,459 votes in the recent Lok Sabha polls.