Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that he will march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence at 12 PM on Tuesday with a group of 100 people to submit petitions against E20 fuel.
Kejriwal said, “A few days ago, we launched an online petition addressed to the Prime Minister, and approximately 2,33,238 people signed it within just a short period…Tomorrow at 12:00 PM, I will set out from my office with a group of 100 people to head towards the Prime Minister's residence. We want to hand over this petition to him personally and discuss why the ethanol policy is flawed.”
Kejriwal said he would personally hand over the petitions to Modi after receiving no response to a letter he had sent to the prime minister last month seeking an appointment to discuss concerns over E20 petrol.
In his letter, Kejriwal had sought the availability of options for both pure petrol and E20 fuel at petrol stations, besides demanding a reduction in the price of ethanol-blended petrol, news agency PTI reported.
"We did not get any response to the letter, so now we will personally hand over the petition to PM Modi. We had launched a petition campaign against ethanol-blended petrol. More than 2 lakh people have signed this petition," he said.
‘Govt under pressure from Trump’
Kejriwal alleged that India has "yielded" to US President Donald Trump to buy ethanol from the United States and said the government's continued push for ethanol-blended petrol suggested there was a "hidden agenda".
“We heard that the government is promoting ethanol blending under pressure from US President Donald Trump. An allegation is being made that Donald Trump wants to sell ethanol to India and that Prime Minister Modi, out of fear of Trump, is forcing ethanol on the people of this country,” Kejriwal said.
He added, “It is also being alleged that India will purchase $20 billion worth of ethanol from Trump over the next five years. By doing so, Prime Minister Modi has bowed before Trump and is damaging people's vehicles.”
Kejriwal also said the "Ethanol Townhall" organised by the AAP last week was a "huge success", with several people joining the meeting virtually.
