Several candidates from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana who had gone to Karnataka to appear for the competitive examination for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) could not take the exam in Kalaburagi and Hubballi on Saturday following altercations with local candidates who opposed them, branding them “outsiders”.
The test is being conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for selection to the posts of Assistants Officers in Regional Rural Banks in Karnataka and the online tests are being conducted on Saturday and Sunday.
The local candidates’ contention is that people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are ‘snatching’ away jobs meant for the Kannadigas.
Members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other organisations joined them resulting in a deadlock. The protest turned violent at Hubballi when stones were pelted on an institute and a local candidate tried to inflict a cut in his forearm with a blade.
After attempts to convince the protesters failed, the police warned them of serious action. Since the allotted time for the first two slots of the exam lapse, none were able to write the test in Kalaburagi. At Hubballi, nobody wrote the first slot and only few appeared in the second one.
In Ballari, the exam continued even as a group of local candidates and members of pro-Kannada organisations squatted in front of an exam centre at Y. Mahabaleshwarappa Engineering College.
Meanwhile sources said that those who missed the exam would be given another slot on another day to write the test.
Hubballi Dharwad Police Commissioner M.N. Nagaraj told the media that IBPS was ready to give another chance to those who were not allowed to appear for the exam the schedule of which would be announced later.
