A protest staged by BJP workers under the leadership of MLA S N Channabasappa against the state government's power tariff hike turned violent in Shivamogga on Wednesday when some miscreants broke windows of a Mescom office by hurling stones at them. Police have arrested BJP worker Murugesh in this regard.
Tensions prevailed for a while when police prevented BJP workers from entering the Mescom office.
Meanwhile, some agitators hurled stones at the office, damaging glasses of the windows.
Later, an additional police force rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
BJP City Wing President Jagadish, MLCs S Rudre Gouda, D S Arun, Mayor Shivakumar, BJP leaders Santosh Bellekere, S Dattatri, corporators Suvarna Shankar, Surekha Muralidhar, and others took part in the protest.
Earlier, BJP workers raised slogans against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. They charged that the government has hiked power tariff through backdoor in the name of freebies.