NEW DELHI: On a day when prices of petrol and diesel touched a record new high across the country including in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), a minister in the Yogi Adityanath's cabinet Upendra Tiwari today made a bizarre statement that 95% of people in India do not need petrol.

In a video that has been posted on Twitter by ANI UP, Tiwari is seen saying, "Only a handful of people use 4-wheelers & need petrol. 95% of people don't need petrol. Over 100 cr vaccine doses were administered free of cost to people...If you compare (fuel price) to per capita income, prices are very low now."

Tiwari was reportedly addressing a meet at Jalaun where he said that compare with other states, the (fuel) prices haven’t been raised that much in UP and the country.

Tiwari a leader of the Bharatiya Janat Party from the Phephana Vidhan Sabha constituency in Ballia district further said, "If you compare today’s statistics with those before 2014, then the per capita income has doubled under the Yogi-Modi government."  The per capita income today is more than twice what it was seven years before he added.

When he was asked if the various freebies given by the government had led to a hike in fuel prices, Tiwari said, "They haven’t been raised. As compared to the per capita income, the prices of petrol and diesel are quite low as of now."

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel prices on Thursday were hiked by 35 paise per litre each, the second consecutive day of increase that took pump rates across the country to record high levels and petrol in Lucknow is now selling at Rs 103.52, while diesel is at Rs 95.72 per litre.

In Delhi, the price of petrol is at Rs 106.54 a litre and Rs 112.44 per litre in Mumbai while diesel was retailing at Rs 103.26 and in Delhi, it was at Rs 95.27 per litre.

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