Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Targets Centre's E20 Fuel Policy, Alleges Losses To Consumers | Video

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday, August 7, raised concerns over the government’s E20 fuel-blending policy, alleging that the increased use of ethanol-blended petrol is adversely affecting vehicles and causing financial losses to consumers.

In a video shared on his official handle on X, Gandhi described the E20 issue as a “very big issue” and said the matter would be taken up by the Congress “in a massive way”.

“The issue of E-20 is a very big issue. Normally, we say that there is something wrong with Dal. But this Dal itself is wrong,” Gandhi said.

Calling the matter one of “sequencing”, Gandhi said there were several issues that needed to be prioritised amid what he described as widespread corruption.

“Don’t worry, this issue, we are going to take it up in a massive way because this is destroying people’s cars, destroying people’s scooters, destroying people’s lives and literally is stealing directly from them,” he said.

Following Gandhi’s remarks, a user in the comment section shared a video recorded in Parliament on August 11, 2005, featuring former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar speaking about ethanol blending with petrol.

In the clip, Aiyar can purportedly be heard saying that ethanol blending with petrol would be made mandatory. He also referred to discussions with the Indian Sugar Mills Association and said that if the availability of ethanol increased, the government would increase its blending with petrol.

The user then tagged Rahul Gandhi and sought clarification over the Congress’s position on ethanol blending, pointing to the fact that the policy had also been advocated during the previous Congress-led government.

“Mr Rahul Gandhi, when your party was in the government, your party minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was doing a massive campaign for ethanol as Petroleum Minister in Parliament. Please tell us what about this. Explain your stand about this issue then and now,” the user wrote.

E20 refers to petrol blended with up to 20 per cent ethanol. The government has promoted ethanol blending as part of efforts to reduce dependence on imported crude oil, lower emissions and provide an additional market for domestic agricultural produce.

The older remarks cited by the user, however, concern ethanol blending and predate the current E20 rollout by several years. Therefore, the 2005 statement by itself does not establish that Aiyar or the Congress government had endorsed the specific E20 policy in its present form.