Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday (November 7, 2026) attacked the Modi government over the rollout of E20 petrol , citing test results of samples collected by the Karnataka government, and asked the Centre to come clean on the actual ethanol content in fuel being sold across the country.
In a post in Hindi on X, Mr. Gandhi said, “E20 turned into 420 – stealing petrol from the public’s cars! The reference was to Section 420 of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, which dealt with cheating.
They also questioned the use of third-party laboratory certificates, saying these did not disclose sufficient details of the testing methodology to independently verify the reported ethanol levels. Mr. Gandhi said the government claims that petrol contains 20% ethanol, but tests conducted on samples collected from seven districts in Karnataka had revealed higher levels. “The Karnataka government collected petrol samples from 7 districts and had them tested at an accredited lab. Look at the results — 11 out of 14 samples contained more than 20% ethanol; 31.2% at IOCL, 30.5% at HPCL; IOCL, HPCL, BPCL, Nayara, Shell, whether government-owned or private — all exceeded the limit,” he claimed. The Minister said samples collected from major fuel companies had revealed ethanol content exceeding 20%. The programme since the 2014-15 ethanol supply year has generated foreign exchange savings of more than ₹1.97 lakh crore, substituted approximately 316 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by around 952 lakh metric tonnes and resulted in payments of more than ₹1.66 lakh crore to farmers, according to Petroleum Ministry data cited by the OMCs.
Addressing a press conference, Karnataka Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology Minister Rizwan Arshad said the allegations were based on tests conducted on samples collected from Bengaluru, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Mangaluru and Tumakuru. In a joint statement, the companies said the findings cited by the Karnataka government were not supported by tests conducted in accordance with prescribed statutory and technical procedures.
