NEW DELHI: Union minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday stepped up his attack on Congress over ethanol blending in petrol row and accused it of misleading the public over the issue.Talking to reporters, Joshi took a jibe at Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi and said that Congress is trying to stir up “bogus movement led by a bogus leader.”“One must understand that this is all part of an effort to appease—not just the minorities, but also Rahul Gandhi. They keep saying things in his favour. The public understands this,” he said.“At a time when crude oil is so expensive—with a base price of Rs 53 for petrol, while ethanol costs between Rs 57 and Rs 71 if derived from maize—there is simply no commercial logic to their claims. We took this initiative to support our farmers and to help the nation become self-reliant, rather than remaining dependent on imports,” he said.Joshi also said that Congress had attempted to launch a campaign against the government on several issues, including electronic voting machines, infiltrators and Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.“Yet, the Congress party tried to stir up a movement—a bogus movement led by a bogus leader, Rahul Gandhi. They’ve tried everything: questioning EVMs, advocating for infiltrators, and even attacking Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The public has rejected all of this; they simply did not accept it,” Joshi said.“Just as you need specialised, high-end equipment to test for blood sugar levels or detect cancer, similar equipment and recognised laboratories are required for testing petrol and diesel,” he added.“And who introduced this concept of using specific equipment and recognised labs? It was these very people—back in 2005, during the UPA’s tenure—who issued an SOP and introduced the ‘Petrol and Diesel Order’,” he further said.This comes after Karnataka minister Rizwan Arshad said that the state government stands by its report that oil companies are blending more than 20 per cent ethanol in petrol, despite the companies’ rejection of the claim/During a press conference, Arshad said the Karnataka government had last Friday released a report stating that petrol samples from seven districts were tested, and most showed an Ethanol blend above 20 per cent, going up to 31.2 per cent.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
“This is contrary to the government policy that they will blend only E20 fuel,” he said.He said the oil manufacturing companies disputed the findings after the state explained where the samples were tested and what methodology was used, claiming the state was wrong“I want to tell everyone in the country, assure them, that the Government of Karnataka stands by its report and claims that oil marketing companies are blending more than 20 per cent Ethanol in petrol, which will cause serious damage to the engines of vehicles, and it will burden the common man,” Arshad said.