Mangaluru: The Vijaya Bank was a matter of prestige for the Bunts community, bank had helped the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to bloom and reach their peak. But, BJP and RSS leaders never attempted to prevent its merger with the Bank of Baroda”, lamented Subbaiah Shetty, former managing director of Vijaya Bank on Friday, April 5.

“I am a follower of RSS and had been to jail during the time of emergency. I have worked for the development of Vijaya Bank along with Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty. The decision of bank merging was done in hurry just to protect fraudulent businessmen. No debate took place for the last three years for not appointing any officer and employee representatives for the bank board,” he said .

“The bank played prominent role in the development of BJP and RSS. Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat had asked for donation to start his school. I had collected Rs 8 lakh in the form of advertisement and donated it to the school,” he said.

“Vijaya Bank was the pride of coastal region and stood tall because of Bunt community. There is one MP and four MLAs who belong to the Bunt community. It is very disheartening to see the MP and four MLAs belonging to the Bunt community not doing anything to save the bank. I had asked for an opportunity to speak to the finance minister, but was denied a chance. I am deeply hurt to see that the local MP and MLAs did not do anything or interact with the Prime Minister to stop the bank merger,” he added.

Vijaya Bank’s retired employee Narayana Salia and customer Sadananda Shetty were present.