Shimla: BJP’s Amit Malviya on Sunday shared a video purportedly showing farmers in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla throwing apples into a water stream as they had become rotten and could not reach the market due to landslides and road closers and questioned why the Congress government did not provide assistance to these farmers.

“Apple growers in Shimla are forced to drain their produce in a rivulet because Congress Government in Himachal has failed to help farmers reach fruits to market in time”, tweeted Malviya.

“Words are cheap, Gandhi’s are cheaper…”, tweeted Amit Malviya as he shared a video comparing 2022 and 2023.

In the video, hundreds of apples were thrown into the river crate by crate because they were getting rotten owing to landslides and road closures. The produce could not reach the market. While Rahul Gandhi shed tears watching the video, Malviya said that this is the reason why fruits and vegetables are expensive in the market. The attack comes as the prices of tomatoes and vegetables are burning hole in the pockets of the middle class.

Earlier on April 21, 2023 the Himachal department of agriculture and horticulture instructed field officials to assess the damage to cash crops. The worst-affected apple orchards are in Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Jubbal, Rohru, and Chopal in the Shimla district as it snowed in the remote Hango valley of tribal Kinnaur district.