Amid soaring prices of tomatoes across the country, a Samajwadi Party worker who is also a vegetable vendor purportedly hired bouncers to "protect" the produce in his store and prevent buyers from getting aggressive while haggling the tomato prices.
The SP worker Ajay Fauji runs a grocery business in the Lanka area of Varanasi. He had earlier cut a tomato-shaped cake in Varanasi on the birthday of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. "I kept hearing about arguments over the tomato price among people. People at my shop too tried to haggle. So to put an end to the constant arguments, I decided to deploy bouncers in uniform at my cart," Fauji told PTI.
His shop also has a placard mentioning the rising prices of commodities over the last "nine years," in an apparent reference to the period the Narendra Modi-led government has been in power at the Centre.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav too shared the image of a news clip relating to Fauji and his bouncers, and tweeted, "The BJP should provide 'Z-Plus' security to tomatoes."
Spike in prices of vegetables across India saw a new height with the retail price of tomato touching Rs 160 per kilogram in some places including Mumbai while most of the other states are sticking to the price of Rs 120 per kg.
Earlier this week, fast food chain McDonald’s dropped tomatoes from their burgers and wraps in many parts of India citing supply shortages.
