Sunny Deol appoints ‘representative’ to Gurdaspur constituency, Congress calls it ‘betrayal’ to voters 

Bollywood actor and Member of Parliament Sunny Deol has appointed a person who is writer by profession as his "representative" to the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency, a move that came under fire from the ruling Congress, which described it as a "betrayal" of the voters' mandate.

In a letter issued on the letterhead of the Gurdaspur MP, Deol appointed Gurpreet Singh Palheri as his "representative" to "attend meetings and follow important matters".

"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 reads.

Palheri, who is a writer and line producer, said the letter was issued on June 26.

He tried to downplay the issue, saying, "It (appointment) is for local issues. It is like being in 24-hour service of people of Gurdaspur." He, however, asserted that the Gurdaspur MP and the BJP were taking care of the public issues of the Lok Sabha constituency.

According to a report in Indian Express, Gurpreet Singh, who is also known as ‘Gyani Ji’ in the film industry circles, said: “I know people are saying Gyani kithon a geya (Where has gyani come from?) But I am not replacing Sunny Deol. I have joined just as personal assistant of Sunny Deol and will look after his work in the constituency. I, along with other BJP leaders, will sit in the official meetings in the absence of the MP.”

“I have been living in Pathankot since Sunny Deol won the election and have been going in the field everyday. Sunny Deol already has a temporary home in Pathankot, and we are looking for a plot to construct a new home for him here in Gurdaspur. Sunny Deol has been working in Delhi to push demands of Gurdaspur. You will soon hear a good news related to the development of Gurdaspur.”

Palheri said Deol would visit the Gurdaspur constituency every month. "He will now come to Gurdaspur after Parliament session is over," he added.

Meanwhile, Punjab cabinet 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.

"Sunny Deol has betrayed voters of Gurdaspur constituency by appointing a representative," said Randhawa, an MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, an Assembly segment which is part of the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency.

"How can an MP appoint his representative? Voters have elected Sunny Deol as MP, not his representative," Randhawa told PTI.

Last month, the newly elected MP had faced flak from the people of the constituency after posting a video of his vacation in Kaza on Instagram.

Deol became MP after defeating Congress' Sunil Jakhar with a margin of 82,459 votes in the Lok Sabha polls.

Sunny Deol, whose father Dharmendra and stepmother Hema Malini are also affiliated to the BJP, was approached by party chief Amit Shah himself ahead of the Gurdaspur election. Earlier, late actor Vinod Khanna had represented Gurdaspur constituency four times - in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014 - on behalf of the BJP.

With inputs from PTI.