'Voters only wanted selfies': Sunny Deol faces ire for naming 'representative' in Gurdaspur

Newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sunny Deol is facing ire after he appointed his representative to address issues on his behalf in his constituency Gurdaspur. 

In a letter, the actor-turned-politician said: "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." Palheri, is a writer and producer. The letter on Deol's official letterhead was issued on June 26.

Hitting out at Deol, Congress said that people only voted for him to get a selfie with him. "In marketing, customer is always right, in democracy, voter is always right. One has to accept it. Voters never expected anything from him other than selfie with him," Congress leader Sunil Jakhar said.

Congress leader KTS Tulsi also lashed out at the Gurdaspur MP and said that he should resign if he can't address the grievances of the people. "An MP represents people directly in House. He's answerable to the people and if he thinks somebody else is more suitable to understand their grievances, then he might as well resign and ask him to contest," Tulsi said.

As per reports, Palheri said that Deol would visit the constituency every month and will be making a visit to Gurdaspur after the current session of Parliament ends.

The 62-year-old Bollywood action star took on a new role in New Delhi on April 23, joining the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a short ceremony in which he professed to have been inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Punjab's Gurdaspur, was the constituency which was earlier represented by late Bollywood actor and BJP member Vinod Khanna. "Like my father joined Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I have decided to go with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I want PM Modi for the next five years," he had said after joining the BJP before the elections.