Karnataka Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka has blamed pothole-ridden roads for declining vehicle mileage in the state, rejecting claims that ethanol-blended petrol is responsible. He accused the Congress government of raising the ethanol issue to divert attention from its own failures.
Ashoka was speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday, November 12, a week after Karnataka’s Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology Minister, Rizwan Arshad, said government tests had found as much as 31 per cent ethanol blended in petrol samples. Arshad has said the state is not opposed to ethanol and is only against cheating people.
Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has also said mileage has dropped. Ashoka said mileage was not dropped because of petrol or diesel, but because roads across Karnataka are full of potholes. As evidence, he said the average speed of Bengaluru’s state-run BMTC buses had dropped from 18 km per hour to 11 km per hour, and that this was due to potholes and not traffic. “The more you apply the brakes, the more petrol is consumed,” he said.
He argued that vehicle manufacturers have not complained of engine damage, and that nobody has gone to court over it. A problem that does not exist in states such as Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, he said, has been created in Karnataka.
Ashoka also questioned how the government tested the fuel. He said six samples should be collected from each litre, with one each for the petrol pump owner, the oil company and the laboratory. He claimed the state did not follow the rules, and that only 11 of 63 samples tested were shown.
He asked whether any samples were taken from petrol pumps owned by Congress leaders. He noted that raids were carried out on 805 petrol pumps, and said weights and measures are the state government’s job, so it should disclose what action it has taken.
On the finances, Ashoka said the Congress government earned Rs 10,308 crore from ethanol-related revenue in 2025-26. He said the Centre collects Rs 12 per litre from petrol while the state collects Rs 24 to 25, so the party with the higher revenue is making the accusations. He also said farmers have gained more than Rs 1.60 lakh crore in extra income from ethanol blending nationwide, that more than 80 countries blend ethanol, and that the state government should not do anything to cut the income of farmers who supply it.
Ashoka accused the Congress of creating the controversy to divert attention when people began criticising its mistakes. He also pointed to drought relief for farmers and to Minister Krishna Byre Gowda’s remarks on per capita income as issues that the ethanol row has pushed aside.
