Uttar Pradesh Minister for sports and youth welfare, Upendra Tiwari, has finally come out to defend the continuing increase in fuel prices. "Today, there are just a handful of people who travel in four-wheel vehicles and use petrol. At present, 95 per cent people do not need petrol," the minister told reporters at a function in Jalaun district on Thursday.

He also argued that fuel prices had not really risen in real terms if the per capita income is compared with that in 2014, referring to the year when a BJP-led government first came to power at the Centre. He claimed that the opposition did not have any real issue to attack the government and was using fuel prices to continue its propaganda.