Karnataka: Stones hurled at Yediyurappa's residence in Shikaripura amid protests
Bengaluru: The residence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in Shikaripura town of Shivamogga district came under attack after protesters opposing the State Government’s internal reservation recommendation to the Union Government for Scheduled Castes (SCs) took an ugly turn on Monday. Yediyurappa is the MLA of Shikaripura Assembly seat.
Angry protesters pelted stones and damaged the window panes and the protesters also set on fire sarees distributed to the people on the occasion of Yediyurappa's birthday.
Taking stock of the situation, Tahsildhar of Shikaripura Vishwanath imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC as a precautionary measure.
A protest was organised jointly by the members of Banjara, Bhovi, Koracha, Koramara in Shikaripura town on Monday and others and the protesters assembled in front of the Tahsildar’s office but none of the officials concerned came to receive the memorandum.
Girish, president of Banjara Students Association, stated that the gates of the Tahsildhar’s office were closed when protesters went to submit a memorandum opposing the internal reservation and later the protesters tried to lay siege to the residence of Yediyurappa which was nearby.
Girish alleged that when protesters gathered near the residence of the Yediyurappa, police all of a sudden took to lathicharge them leading to tense situation.
When the protest took an ugly turn, protesters pelted stones at the residence of Yediyurappa and window panes were damaged. Police canned the protesters to disperse the crowd that had gathered near the residence of Yediyurappa.
Meanwhile, some protesters removed the BJP flag installed on the office of Taluk BJP Shikaripura and replaced the BJP flag with a Banjara community flag.
BJP MLA Ashok Naik stated that the protest was held without proper understanding of the internal reservation and alleged that Congress party was behind the protest of Banjara community.
Over the protest, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Chikkaballapura also blamed the Congress party for the protests in Shikaripura and appealed to Banjara community leaders to resolve any issues amicably.
