Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday questioned the BJP’s protest against price rise, saying the party should first address concerns over the impact of ethanol blending in petrol.He claimed that ethanol blending in fuel had affected vehicle mileage and damaged engines, resulting in frequent breakdowns and financial losses to vehicle owners in the state.The chief minister also pointed fingers at the Centre’s accountability over the problems arising from ethanol blending in petrol.Clarifying that he was not targeting petrol pump operators, he said the Centre should take responsibility for investigating the source and quality of the fuel being supplied.A row erupted after the Karnataka government last week said that E20 petrol samples collected from across seven districts had ethanol content up to 31 per cent against the prescribed 20 per cent.”Let the BJP protest against price rise; it is politics. But when petrol and diesel prices increased, ethanol was mixed in vehicles, with the blending going beyond 20 per cent to 30 per cent. Vehicles are getting damaged, engines are suffering damage, and vehicles are stopping midway. Can’t they (BJP) see this?” Shivakumar told a news agency.He said the state government had collected samples from 67 locations and brought the matter to the notice of the Centre and the concerned authorities.The senior Congress leader said some representatives of the Central Government were denying the allegations of higher ethanol blending, adding that they should first respond to the findings from the samples collected by the state.Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP staged a protest in Bengaluru against hike in prices of various commodities and services by the Congress government.Addressing the protest, which was attended by BJP top leaders, including former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa, Basavaraj Bommai and Jagadish Shettar besides leaders of the Opposition in the legislature R Ashok and Chalavadi Narayanswamy, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra declared that the party would take the protest against the government to panchayat level if the price hike was not withdrawn.He maintained that the only achievement of the Congress government in the state in the last three-and-a-half years was increasing prices of various services and essential commodities.“On the one hand, the Congress government claims that it is providing relief to people through its guarantee schemes. But on the other, it is taking out money from their pockets through price rise,” he alleged.He said the government had increased the burden on people by raising the tax on petrol and diesel on four occasions, and increasing stamp paper charges, hospital service cost and bus fares. In fact, the Karnataka High Court too had taken note of the price rise, he said.