BJP Looks To Capitalise On Shah's Visit To Dakshina Kannada

The ruling BJP in Karnataka has made all arrangements to capitalise on the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the communally volatile Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday. Though his visit is official in his capacity as the first Union Minister for Co-operation, the BJP sees an opportunity to turn his visit into a campaign for the Assembly elections in the state due in May.

The official function of Shah is the inauguration of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-Operative Limited (CAMPCO) at Puttur in the district. Later, he is scheduled to inaugurate the Bharat Mata Mandir built by Dharmashree Pratisthan at Hanumagiri, which is the second temple in south India for Bharat Mata after the one in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

Dharmashree Pratisthan sources said the temple has been constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore with the objective of inculcating a sense of patriotic feeling among the people. The BJP plans to ensure the participation of at least one lakh people for the function, party sources said.

Shah will garland the statue of Bharat Mata and later pay floral tributes at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in Puttur. He will also visit Hanumagiri temple at Ishwaramangala and offer worship. The BJP is planning to use the visit as the start of their election campaign in the district, often described as the party’s 'Hindutva laboratory' in Karnataka. One of the most communally polarised districts in the state, Dakshina Kannada had last year witnessed murders along communal lines.

The murder of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Praveen Nettaru in July last year, followed by the killing of Fazil at Surathkal had further fuelled the communal conflict in the region. As Shah had not visited the district in the recent past, the BJP wants to extract maximum political mileage out of the visit of the party's top leader.

In the last Assembly elections, BJP had won seven out of eight seats in Dakshina Kannada. The lone winner for Congress was U T Khader in Mangaluru segment. The party had also won the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha seat through its present state president Nalin Kumar Kateel. The seats from the district are crucial for BJP to retain its hold in the coastal belt, while the opposition Congress is struggling hard to regain its lost glory in the region.

Congress leader and former MLC Ivan D'Souza has asked BJP leaders to apprise the Union minister about the pathetic condition of roads in the district. "We want the minister to talk about development instead of conducting road shows," he said at a press meet here on Thursday.

All official arrangements are being made to ensure security for the Union Home Minister’s visit. ADGP (law and order) Alok Kumar, IGP (western range) Chandragupta and district superintendent of police Vikram Amathe are overseeing the security arrangements.