Former BJP chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s house at Shikaripura in Shimoga district was left with broken windowpanes on Monday as a protest by Banjaras, a dominant Scheduled Caste community, turned violent.

The Banjaras and some other Dalit groups across Karnataka have been protesting the state cabinet decision last week to divide up the 17 per cent Scheduled Caste quota into four sub-quotas based on the share of the various SC sub-groups’ populations.

While the sidelined Yediyurappa holds no post in party or government, the stone-throwing protesters seemed to have targeted his house because he happened to be the lone party heavyweight in the area.

Political analysts said that those unhappy with the sub-categorisation within the SC quota were the relatively advanced sub-groups that tended to corner disproportionately large shares of the reservation pie.

Yediyurappa, who was in Bangalore, said he had no idea why the protesters targeted his property.

“I will talk to them once I go to Shikaripura, either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he told reporters.

The incident comes at a time Yediyurappa has announced his retirement from electoral politics and set aside his long-held Shikaripura seat for his younger son B.Y. Vijayendra — a move opposed by BJP hardliners and rivals.

Asked if the attack was a BJP conspiracy to tarnish his image, he said: “I feel they (the protesters) did this because of some misunderstanding.

There is no hidden hand behind this.” According to last week’s cabinet decision, the SC communities in Karnataka will be divided into “Left”, “Right”, “Touchables” and an unnamed fourth group.

The 17 per cent SC quota will be divided into a 6 per cent sub-quota for the Left sub-group, 5.5 per cent for the Right, 4.5 per cent for the Touchables — under which the Banjara community falls — and 1 per cent for the smaller fourth sub-group.

Men and women from the Banjara community, which is influential in Shimoga and other northern districts, chanted slogans against Yediyurappa, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and the BJP in general and threw stones.

They blocked roads around Yediyurappa’s house and brought down BJP flags, banners and posters. Women protesters made a bonfire of saris that Yediyurappa had gifted local women on his 80th birthday last month. The men set fire to tyres.

As the protesters clashed with the riot police, a baton-charge brought the situation under control.

Chief minister Bommai said the sub-categorisation had been done on a recommendation from a cabinet sub-committee.

He said without elaborating: “They (the Banjaras) feared removal from the SC list but I personally intervened and ensured they remained on the SC list.”

The same cabinet meeting controversially scrapped the 4 per cent reservation for OBC Muslims and divided their share equally between Vokkaligas and Lingayats in what is being seen as an electoral ploy.

The Congress has questioned the tinkering with the quotas and promised to cancel the changes if voted to power in the summer Assembly polls.