Mangaluru : The process of bank merger was started by the UPA government when Veerappa Moily and Oscar Fernandes were ministers at the centre, said Vijaya Bank retired officers Balappa Shetty on Tuesday, April 9.

Speaking at press conference here, Balappa Shetty said, for the sake of votes politicians are favouring of Vijaya Bank, they had a chance to stop it, he pointed.

None of the leaders spoke against it. Now just they are delivering politically backed statements for their own benefit. A nationalised bank snatched away from the coastal region, he blamed.

J R Lobo and Ivan D’Souza had pressurized the state government and brought a stay on renaming the road after  Mulky Sundaram Shetty .

These Congress leaders who not speak single word when Mulky Sundaram Shetty was insulted, do not have the moral right to speak about Vijaya Bank merger Balappa Shetty said.

The statement of “Mithun Rai  the merger will be withdrawn and Vijaya Bank will be restarted again. This impossible,” he added.

Vijaya Bank retired officers Jayanth Shetty, Somanath Shetty, Mohan Shetty and Ramakrishna Shetty were present.