Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sunny Deol on Tuesday issued a clarification after he was criticised for appointing a representative to his Lok Sabha constituency, Gurdaspur in Punjab. Deol on Monday had announced that writer and line producer Gurpreet Singh Palheri would be his representative to attend meetings and “follow important matters” about his constituency.
“It is extremely unfortunate to see a controversy being created out of nothing at all,” Deol said on Twitter. “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 the parliament or travelling for work. The intention is to merely ensure that no work is disrupted or delayed due to any reason whatsoever and to keep myself updated on daily basis.”
The actor-turned-politician added that as an elected MP he was completely committed to his constituency, and said that he will do his best to “serve my people to the best of my capacity”.
Palheri had claimed that he was appointed as a representative for local matters while the BJP and Deol were going to take care of public matters in the constituency. He also said that he was not the only representative.
However, Congress criticised Deol for this appointment as Punjab Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa called it a betrayal of the voters’ mandate. “How can an MP appoint his representative? Voters have elected Sunny Deol as MP, not his representative,” he said.
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