MP Sunny Deol's appointment of writer Gurpreet Singh Palheri, as his representative to "attend meetings and follow important matters" in Gurdaspur has come under fire. The Congress termed it a betrayal of voter mandate. However, Deol said the appointment was made to "ensure smooth flow of work" whenever he was away from Gurdaspur.
"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," Deol tweeted on Tuesday.
— Sunny Deol (@iamsunnydeol) July 2, 2019
"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," the actor-politician wrote on his Twitter handle.
The BJP had fielded Sunny Deol, a Jat Sikh, from Gurdaspur constituency. Deol was pitted against sitting MP and Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar, AAP's Peter Masih and PDA's Lal Chand in electoral fight from Gurdaspur seat.
The Gurdaspur constituency was earlier represented by Congress MP Sunil Jakhar, who won the seat in the 2017 bypoll, which was necessitated after the death of Vinod Khanna in April that year. The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat had been represented by late actor Vinod Khanna for four-times—1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
-Inputs from PTI
