Highlighting soaring prices of tomato, Samajwadi party workers cut tomato-shaped cake on Akhilesh Yadav's birthday

PTI

Lucknow, July 1

Samajwadi Party workers in Varanasi celebrated its chief Akhilesh Yadav's 50th birthday on Saturday by cutting a tomato-shaped cake and distributing tomatoes among people to underline its rising prices.

A party worker who organised the celebration said they could have distributed sweets but "even the sweets have become expensive".

"We always celebrate the birthday of our leader with pomp. But, this time, the price rise is at an all-time high. Tomatoes are priced at Rs 120 per kg. In our villages, we eat chapatis with tomato chutney, but even that is being snatched away from our plates," he told PTI.

"So, we are distributing tomatoes, and also cutting a cake resembling a tomato," he said.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati greeted Yadav on his birthday.

"Birthday greetings to the national president of Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav. May Lord Ram give good health to you," Adityanath said in a tweet in Hindi.

Mayawati wished Yadav good health and a long life.

Akhilesh Yadav, a four-time Lok Sabha MP, is currently the Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017.