JOIN USMembers of the Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee have opposed the proposed merger of Vijaya Bank, which is a strong public sector bank, with Dena Bank, which is facing huge financial losses.
Former minister B Ramanath Rai told reporters in a press meet at Congress Bhavan on Monday that the party would extend support to the public protest against the merger.
History
It was the late Attavar Balakrishna Shetty who established Vijaya Bank in Mangaluru 87 years ago. The late Mulki Sundar Ram Shetty, as founder-president, expanded the bank’s operations to across the country.
“The bank has faced losses in the past and the employees had to strive hard to ensure the bank is saved. By proposing the merger of Vijaya Bank, the Centre is hurting the sentiments of the employees and the residents of the district,” Rai alleged.
He said that, with the merger, the bank will lose its identity, which will be a setback for the district and also took the local MP to task for remaining silent on such a major issue concerning the district.
Speaking further, the minister pointed out that Vijaya Bank had been launched by a member of the Bunt community. “It is disheartening to observe that an MP belonging to the same community is silent on the merger,” he added.
“The negative impact of the previous merger of banks with the State Bank of India is being experienced to this day. It is, therefore, not the right step for the government to merge Vijaya Bank with Dena Bank,” he advised.
Loan waiver
Rai recollected that the UPA government had been in favour of farmers as the government had waived farmers’ loans worth Rs 78,000 crore.
“The NDA government, unfortunately, is waiving Rs 2 lakh crore loans borrowed by the corporate sector and favours the entrepreneurs.