Puttur, Feb 9 (IANS): Preparations are in full swing in the ruling BJP camp to welcome Union Home Minister Amit Shah on his first visit to the communally sensitive coastal region of Karnataka on February 11 ahead of the Assembly elections.

Amit Shah is visiting Puttur town of Dakshina Kannada district to take part in the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Limited (Campko).

He will also inaugurate Bharat Mata Mandir built by Dharmashree Pratisthana. The Mandir has been built to bring a sense of patriotism. This is the only temple of Bharat Mata after one in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, said the BJP leaders.

Shah will garland the statue of Bharat Mata and also pay a flower tribute to Amar Jawan statue. He will visit Hanumagiri temple and offer worship.

The party leaders are making arrangements for gathering more than one lakh people at the event. Dakshina Kannada district has witnessed revenge killings in the recent past.

Coastal Karnataka region is a bastion of BJP and considered as a laboratory of Hindutva in the state. The region has been making national news for moral policing and communal strife. Earlier, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai while commenting on moral policing, had stated that there will be an action for reaction stirring a huge controversy. The statement was slammed by the opposition parties.

Taking a dig at the visit of Amit Shah, local Congress leader M.B. Vishwanath Rai has stated that the people will be happy if successfully running 'Campko' is not merged with Gujarati capitalists.

H. Mohammad Ali, Puttur City Congress President stated that Puttur is an RSS land. "The police are deputing 3,500 policemen for the security of Amit Shah. Sangh Parivar's security is enough here. No terrorist will come, deputation of heavy police force is an insult to the Sangh Parivar," he ridiculed.