Ramanath Rai Hands Over Memorandum to Moily to Cancel Merger of Vijaya Bank

Ramanath Rai Hands Over Memorandum to Moily to Cancel Merger of Vijaya Bank

Mangaluru: The former district minister in-charge Ramanath Rai handed over a memorandum to the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance and Member of Parliament Veerappa Moily to oppose the proposed amalgamation of Vijaya Bank, Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank at the Lady Goschen premises here on March 2.

Speaking to Veerappa Moily Ramanath Rai said, “Vijaya Bank has founded by Attavar Balakrishna Shetty in 1931 which was later promoted by Mulky Sundaram Shetty. Now the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is merging Vijaya Bank with the Bank of Baroda. Vijaya Bank was founded by a Mangalorean and it is our right to fight to retain its name. Vijaya Bank is a profitable bank and it is our right to protect the bank from being merged with the Bank of Baroda which is facing a huge loss. Once the bank is merged we may never be able to see the portrait of A B Shetty or Mulky Sundaram Shetty in the bank, nor the smiling emblem of the bank and its name. I request you to take measures to stop the Central government from merging Vijaya Bank with the Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank.”

The memorandum was handed over to Veerappa Moily and Union Minister Sadananda Gowda.

After receiving the memorandum Sadananda Gowda said, “We have already started the merger of banks and the State Bank of Mysuru, State bank of Travancore and State bank of Hyderabad have been merged with the State Bank of India. We are planning to implement a new policy by merging the banks and on policy matters, we have merged Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda. The delegation from Vijaya bank approached us in Delhi and met Arun Jaitley and now the cabinet has already taken the decision. once merged, they have their own procedures to reverse the decision. I will see to it that Vijaya bank name will not be changed”, he said.

After receiving the morandum Veerppa Moily said, “Our committee has not received any information or notice of merging the Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank . If any notice would have been sent to us, we wouldn’t have allowed the merging of Vijaya bank with the Bank of Baroda. The Reserve bank has put some restrictions on some banks running on loss but Vijaya Bank’s name was not there in the list of PCA. Vijaya bank’s performance is outstanding. Vijaya Bank should not be merged and I will surely request the Central government to drop its decision. Vijaya Bank should be retained because it is a community bank which has helped the farmers. The finance committee did not receive any information about the merger, I will surely raise the issue in the finance committee. “

MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLA Vedavyas Kamath and others were also present.