Vrindavan, Apr 11 (IANS): Actress and BJP's Mathura MP Hema Malini has attributed the monkey menace in the Mathura-Vrindavan area to visitors "spoiling them by feeding them with samosas and Frooti", and stressed they should only be given fruits.

Interacting with local people at the Sudama Kuti here, Hema Malini, responding to a query on the "monkey problem", said: "Where will the monkey go? It's co-existence. The problem is the visitors give Frooti and samosa to them, which spoils them. Usko sirf phal dijiye (only give fruits to the monkey)."

Hema Malini, who was previously seen in the fields with women farmers and driving a tractor, also said that monkeys are a problem in the Omaxe housing project, where she has built a "small home".

Elections to the Mathura Lok Sabha constituency, which Hema Malini wrested from sitting Rashtriya Lok Dal MP Jayant Chaudhary in the 2014 polls, are slated to be held in the second phase of the 2019 general elections on April 18.