The Congress has been for years claiming that the BJP has slowly communalised the coastal districts of Karnataka.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on many occasions has openly stated that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are behind the communal incidents in different parts of the state.

To control them, he has also issued strict instructions to the police to keep a vigil on their activities.

But, frequent clashes and deaths of alleged Hindu activists in these areas have only served as ammunition for the BJP to hammer the state government. To further consolidate their vote bank in these areas, BJP national president Amit Shah is on a three-day visit to the coastal regions to campaign for the upcoming state elections.

Sources in the BJP tell us that 'Hindutva' will be the key issue that Shah will focus upon when he meets BJP and RSS cadres in these districts.

According to his tour plan, he is expected to visit prominent temples in the region and hold political meetings at Mangaluru, Bantwal, Puttur and Sullia where he will address large numbers of youngsters. However, it is his visits to two dead alleged BJP activists' home that has raised many eyebrows.

Amit Shah will particularly meet the family members of Paresh Meshta who died in December 2017 and also the family members of Deepak Rao who died in the month of January this year. Political analysts believe that it is these meetings that will truly kick-start the BJP campaign in Karnataka.

These two deaths along with the deaths of many other alleged Hindu activists had seen tempers rise in coastal Karnataka and with the RSS well settled there, the BJP in the state hopes Amit Shah can manage to consolidate Hindu votes for the saffron party.

The Congress on the other hand will find it hard to counter the BJP's narrative and strategy this time around. Many experts feel that with the infiltration of right-wing ideology into civil society of what was once a modern and liberal Mangaluru by the RSS and its parivar, now the same is happening in Uttara Kannada.

Amit Shah will want to make sure this work is done satisfactorily so that when people come out to vote, they know it will only be for the lotus.

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