New Delhi, Nov. 10 -- With the Karnataka government claiming to have found excessive ethanol blending in petrol, and oil marketing firms denying such claims, another slugfest between the Congress-ruled state government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Union government is brewing.

It is important to verify and assess claims of excessive ethanol blending, and remove all doubts regarding the use of ethanol-blended petrol. But it is even more important to arrive at a political consensus on a national energy security strategy.

Ethanol blending was initiated more than two decades ago as part of a policy thrust to lower oil imports. Subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs) and renewables are also partly driven by similar considerations....