In the wake of a no-confidence motion moved by the Board of Directors, Chairman of Karnatak Central Cooperative (KCC) Bank in Dharwad Bapugouda Patil has tendered his resignation.
Speaking to presspersons in Dharwad on Tuesday, Mr. Bapugouda Patil said that he had taken the decision to quit on the advice of seniors and considering the changed political scenario.
He, however, sought to play down the fact that he was forced to resign as he had refused to step down after the completion of his tenure of 20 months as agreed to before.
Mr. Patil said that he became the chairman of the bank in 2018 as per the desire of the elders in the Board of Directors and now, he resigned as per their desire. He clarified that there was no political pressure on him to quit.
He said that under his chairmanship, the bank recovered loan arrears of ₹26 crore and had moved towards profit. The bank sanctioned ₹60 crore medium-term agriculture loans under the 3% interest rate scheme in the last two years and recovery has been 100%, he said.
KCC Bank with its head office in Dharwad is the District Central Cooperative Bank for Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri districts. The bank’s managing committee has 21 directors, including the Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies. While 11 have political affiliation with the BJP, nine are affiliated to the Congress.
After a long association with the Congress, Mr. Patil had changed sides to the BJP before his election as a director of the bank. He, however, rejoined the Congress after his election as director to become chairman with the support of directors having affiliation to the Congress.
As per the agreement, he was to serve for 20 months and hand over the post to another director. But when he failed to quit after 20 months, 19 of the directors moved the no-confidence motion against him. Now, realising the lack of numbers, Mr. Patil submitted his resignation. As a result, the election to the chairman’s post will be held on June 18. And, hectic lobbying has already begun.
