Members of the electorally influential Vokkaliga community today staged protests in parts of Karnataka, decrying the removal of Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and threatened to observe the swearing in day of the new leader Jagadish Shettar as a "black day".

Vokkaliga Sangha (Association) members led by Nanjavadoota Swami held a more than four hour long meeting, deliberating on what they described as the "unceremonious" replacement of Gowda by Lingayat leader Shettar by the ruling BJP.

The swami said Gowda, a Vokkaliga, has been shown the door despite giving good governance.

Lingayats form the dominant community, followed by Vokkaligas.

The activists later took out a procession through the main roads of the town, leading to traffic snarls in and around the crowded busy city market area.

The swearing in of the new Chief Minister is likely either tomorrow evening or on July 11.

At Chennapatna, Vokkaliga community members burnt effigies of BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Yeddyurappa and minister M P Renukacharya.

Reports of Vokkaligas staging a protest have also come in from Kolar.

JDS supremo H D Devegowda, an influential Vokkaliga leader, dismissed the charge that the Gowda administration was functioning according to his diktat. Gowda said he had not spoken to Sadanananda Gowda in the last seven months.