Kishan Reddy Counters Cong., Kejriwal On Ethanol

Union coal and mines minister G. Kishan Reddy on Tuesday hit back at

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over their

criticism of the ethanol blending programme, releasing a detailed chronology

from the UPA government’s own Gazette notifications.

In a series of tweets, Kishan Reddy said Rahul Gandhi was “lying to the

country” on ethanol blending, while Kejriwal was spreading “fake claims”

about imports. He recalled that on November 22, 2012, the Congress-led

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs mandated 5 per cent ethanol blending

by June 30, 2013, followed by a January 2, 2013 Gazette notification

directing oil marketing companies to sell petrol blended up to 10 per cent

ethanol.

“Against a requirement of 140.4 crore litres, the producers in the country

could offer only 55 crore litres. The finalised quantity collapsed to 39.8

crore litres. Faced with that shortfall, the Congress government floated a

global tender for 82.03 crore litres,” the minister said, adding that the

party had gone to the international market because it “could not build

capacity to source from India’s own farmers.”

Kishan Reddy said ethanol procurement rose from 38 crore litres in 2013–14

to 707 crore litres in 2023–24, with Indian producers offering 1,776 crore

litres against a requirement of about 1,050 crore litres in the current

supply year. He stressed that ethanol import for fuel purposes has been

prohibited since May 2019 and every litre used for blending is sourced

domestically.

“Aur aakhri baat, Rahul Gandhi ji… do address the Gazette Notification of 2

January 2013. It carries your party’s name,” he said.