Mumbai: A day after the Maharashtra government approved Karnataka Bank Limited as one of the three private banks allowed to handle government transactions, leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar alleged that the bank’s file was cleared within a day. He also slammed the Shinde-Fadnavis government for “encouraging the Karnataka government to conspire against Maharashtra”. The reference was to the raging border dispute that broke out between the two states this week.
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the finance portfolio, indicated that the decision was taken by the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led government, and said that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Karnataka Bank back in June 2021.
Pawar, who was finance minister in the erstwhile government, rejected the claim and declared that the deputy chief minister was lying. “This is completely false. The proposal had come before us but we did not approve it, as Karnataka Bank failed to fulfill the norms determined by us,” he said. “Karnataka continues to provoke us and you are encouraging them?” he added.
Fadnavis said that banks ought not to be dragged into politics. “Just because banks have Karnataka or Maharashtra in their name, one should not identify them with any one state. They cater to people across the country,” he said.
