A host of developments are taking place after the Union government’s decision to merge Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB) along with Dena Bank, in Dakshina Kannada district, where Vijaya Bank had its birth.
While MLC Ivan D’Souza held a daylong satyagraha in front of the Town Hall here opposing the merger, MPs Nalin Kumar Kateel (Dakshina Kannada), Shobha Karandlaje (Udupi-Chikkamagaluru) and Gopal Shetty (Mumbai North) submitted a memorandum to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Tuesday opposing the merger.
Meanwhile, Dakshina Kannada Youth Congress president Mithun Rai, said to be Mr. D’Souza’s bete noire, called for a Mangaluru bandh on Wednesday opposing the merger.
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Speaking at the satyagraha venue, Mr. D’Souza said Vijaya Bank has been the pride of Karnataka coast and its merger with BoB was uncalled for. The bank had been catering to farmers and oppressed classes of society, he noted. None of the merged banks in the country has been successful and there is no meaning in continuing with the merger spree, he said.
Meanwhile, the MPs, who met Mr. Jaitley in New Delhi, impressed upon him the local sentiments associated with Vijaya Bank and their opposition to the merger proposal. If at all merger was inevitable, the merged entity should be known as Vijaya Bank only, they demanded. A communique from Mr. Kateel here said the Minister assured them to positively consider their demand.
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On the other hand, Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee president and MLC K. Harish Kumar while criticising the merger decision, urged the Union government to name the new entity as Vijaya Bank only. He told reporters here on Tuesday that merging a profit-making bank (Vijaya Bank) with a loss-making entity (BoB) was irrational.
Lakhs of youths from the coast have got employment through the bank even as equal number of farmers have been benefited from it, Mr. Kumar said. Congress would hold a dharna outside Vijaya Bank branches in the district on Thursday opposing the merger, the MLC said.
Mr. Rai has urged people to observe a voluntary bandh on Wednesday in Mangaluru.
District BJP spokesperson Harikrishna Bantwal had claimed on Monday that the merger decision was taken during the UPA regime and it was aimed at strengthening the banking sector. He too urged the Centre to name the merged entity as Vijaya Bank.