A decade of opposition criticism on ethanol blending collapsed into a single Gazette Notification on Tuesday, 11 August 2026, when Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy published a point-by-point rebuttal of claims made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal — citing the opposition's own government records against them.

The Gazette that started it all

Reddy's case opens not with a counter-claim but with a date: 22 November 2012. That is when the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, under a Congress-led government, mandated 5% ethanol blending nationwide, with a deadline of 30 June 2013. Weeks later, on 2 January 2013, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas issued a Gazette Notification directing Oil Marketing Companies to sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10 per cent per BIS specifications. The mandate, the percentage, the deadline — all Congress.

Then came the delivery gap. Against a requirement of 140.4 crore litres, Indian producers could supply only 55 crore litres. The finalised quantity shrank further to 39.8 crore litres. Faced with that shortfall, the Congress government floated a global tender for 82.03 crore litres of ethanol — going to the international market because domestic capacity had not been built. Reddy's line is direct: 'Congress wrote the mandate. Congress wrote the 10 per cent. Congress wrote the deadline. And when Congress failed, Congress wrote a global tender.'

The numbers that answer Rahul Gandhi

Reddy places two supply years side by side. Under Congress in 2013-14: 38 crore litres procured. In 2023-24: 707 crore litres. For the current supply year, Indian producers have reportedly offered 1,776 crore litres against a requirement of approximately 1,050 crore litres — nearly double what the country needs. Reddy attributes the shift to a decade of pricing reform, procurement guarantees, long-term offtake agreements and distillery capacity expansion, each of which, he argues, Congress had years to implement and did not.

Farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka — sugarcane growers as well as maize and grain producers — are named as the direct beneficiaries of that policy architecture. The political subtext is clear: these are also states with significant electoral weight.

Kejriwal's import claim and the May 2019 ban

Reddy turns to Kejriwal separately, targeting the AAP leader's assertion that India is importing surplus American ethanol for the E20 programme — a claim Reddy says was made with an eye on Goa Assembly elections. The minister cites a restriction in force since May 2019 that prohibits the import of ethanol for fuel purposes, and notes that the United States government itself has characterised this ban as an 'unfair trade practice' — the very existence of the American objection, Reddy argues, confirms the ban is real and operational.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated on record that every litre of ethanol used for fuel blending is sourced from domestic producers. Reddy demands that Kejriwal 'answer on this, and apologise to the people once again for making fake claims.'

Closing the ledger

Reddy ends where he began — with chronology. He asks Gandhi to address the Gazette Notification of 2 January 2013 directly, and asks Kejriwal to explain why foreign governments are protesting the very import ban he claims does not exist. The final line, drawn from the post's opening: 'Aap pehle chronology samajhiye' ['Understand the chronology first'].

When the data runs from a global tender in 2013 to surplus domestic supply in 2026, the ledger is hard to argue with — and Reddy is making sure both opposition leaders know it.