Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday challenged critics to name a single vehicle damaged by E20 petrol, even as AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal cited automakers' manuals limiting ethanol blends to 10 per cent.

During the 'Viksit Bharat Conclave', the Union road transport and highways minister Gadkari dismissed concerns over higher ethanol blending, asserting that there was no evidence of vehicles being damaged by E20 petrol (20 per cent ethanol-blended fuel).

"There is no case of any car facing issues due to E20 petrol. Has there been any car in the country that faced issues due to the use of E20 petrol? Just name one," he said. "False narratives are being spread about the roll-out of higher ethanol-blended petrol. These are paid campaigns.”

India has already achieved 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol as part of its strategy to reduce crude oil imports and lower carbon emissions, he added.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said the Centre was misleading consumers despite automakers' documentation.

"When companies' official owner manuals are saying that more than 10 per cent ethanol will destroy vehicles, then standing on a government platform and calling 20 per cent ethanol safe is nothing short of outright deception with customers. Despite massive opposition from millions of vehicle owners across the country, the central government is forcibly imposing E20 petrol nationwide," he said.

Kejriwal claimed that on July 3, the government pressured six major automakers to endorse E20 petrol. "Three companies clearly refused to make such a claim. Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar, and Hero MotoCorp stated that E20 is safe even for older vehicles and will only reduce mileage by 5–7 per cent."

Kejriwal claimed that Toyota's official owner's manual permits only E10 fuel and advises users to revert to E0 petrol if even E10 affects performance or mileage.

Gadkari defended the broader ethanol programme, saying India's dependence on fossil fuels is both an economic burden and an environmental hazard, with the country spending Rs 22 lakh crore annually on fuel imports.

While rejecting allegations from critics that his family's business interests were behind his support for ethanol, he said his family owns sugar factories but their companies are not dependent on ethanol production.

The minister added that promoting ethanol production from corn had generated an additional Rs 45,000 crore in income for farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The ministry of road transport and highways has also proposed amendments to vehicle emission rules to enable wider use of higher ethanol blends such as E85 and E100, along with other alternative fuels.

The criticisms over Gardkari’s ethanol push did not end with political leaders.

A recent meme doing the rounds highlighted how Bhutan declined to purchase India’s E20 petrol with a scene of an agitated Ranveer Singh in “Dhurandhar” with the caption, ‘petrol so bad that even Bhutan declined it.’

Another series of memes joked about a news report that said only three fuel-flex cars sold since Gadkari’s launch, in a setback for ethanol blending.

Several commented that Gadkari was one of the three buyers. Some social media users have started calling the minister ‘Ethanol Gadkari’, showing the momentum of popular criticism of the move and now closely ethanol has come to be associated with Gadkari’s name.