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Updated: Jul 02, 2019 17:55 IST

Bollywood actor and Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol has termed the controversy over he appointing a “representative” to the Lok Sabha constituency as “extremely unfortunate”.

Sunny Deol said the appointment was made to ensure that no work is disrupted or delayed due to any reason. “It is extremely unfortunate to see a controversy being created out of nothing at all. 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 l am out of Gurdaspur to attend the parliament or travelling for work,” the actor-turned-politician said in a statement.

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

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

The opposition Congress had panned Sunny Deol and had called the move to appoint a representative a “betrayal” of the voters’ mandate.

Punjab cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa lashed out at Deol for appointing a representative and dubbed the move a “betrayal” with the voters of the border constituency.

“How can an MP appoint his representative? Voters have elected Sunny Deol as MP, not his representative,” Punjab cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had told news agency PTI.

Last month, Sunny Deol had faced flak from the people of the constituency after posting a video of his vacation in Kaza on Instagram. Deol defeated Congress’ Sunil Jakhar by a margin of 82,459 votes in the Lok Sabha polls.