Daijiworld Media Network - Sullia (SP)

Sullia, Apr 2: At a press conference held here on Monday April 1, current MP and BJP candidate from Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency, Nalin Kumar Kateel, said that the then ministers in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, Pranab Mukherjee and Chidambaram, were the ones who initiated the proposal to merge Vijaya Bank with another bank. He also stated that the then chairman of the finance commission, M Veerappa Moily, had given consent for this proposal. He questioned the Congress leaders from the district as to why they remained silent spectators to this development, in spite of being aware of it.

He said that the bill passed by the previous government cannot be amended by the succeeding government. He claimed that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had no role in this merger. He also blamed the UPA government for the move to privatise airports.

Nalin said that the decision regarding amalgamation of a number of banks is a decision having international ramifications and it is very hard to change this decision. He said that several functionaries have now been trying to at least retain Vijaya Bank's name along with those of Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank after their amalgamation, and that there have been positive responses from the concerned.