yes it can effect on petrol as well .. and doing anything with carb will definitely effect on petrol settings as well
that plastic head knob is actually air mixture know ( i hope i am right lolzz) .. it can increase or decrease the car over all engine speed ..
but ur prob is different .. ur car actually drops RPM when u open the AC .. car should IDLE UP when u put load on engine like when u start the AC ..
so u need to play with that two screws ..