Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar’s insinuation that parliamentary standing committee on finance (SCOF) headed by M Veerappa Moily was silent on the issue of merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda has evoked a caustic rebuttal from Moily. Describing Nalin Kumar as ‘illiterate’, Moily asserted that the Union government never placed the issue before SCOF and finalised the decision at the cabinet directly.Demanding that Nalin Kumar apologize for the insinuation of his supposed silence on the issue in a strongly worded letter sent to the MP, a copy of which is with TOI, Moily said the present NDA government does not believe in parliamentary niceties of seeking views of the opposition. “The issue of merger was not placed before the standing committee that I head and the government has okayed the proposal directly in the cabinet,” he said.Moily, also refuted Nalin’s assertion that the Congress was silent when the issue was placed before the Parliament. “The issue of the merger of the three banks was not discussed in Parliament,” Moily said, adding the committee has not recommended to the Union government for merger of any bank – let alone Vijaya Bank. “Such accusations without any proof does not behove your status as a member of Parliament and you should apologise for the same,” Moily said.Reminding Nalin that he has sullied his name by making such baseless allegations, Moily told TOI that he had also moved the speaker for a discussion on the issue in the winter session. “I had also written a letter to finance minister Arun Jaitley demanding that the merger decision be put off, or in worst case scenario, the name of Vijaya Bank, founded in this part of the state, be perpetuated by renaming the merged entity as Vijaya Baroda Bank,” he said.Nalin has cast aspersions on SCOF for political gains and eying the Bunt community votes in the forthcoming parliamentary election, Moily said. District minister U T Khader too assailed Nalin for attacking Moily without proof. If the SCOF had indeed deliberated on the issue, there will be minutes of it, which Nalin should have produced before making such grave allegations against a fellow parliamentarian, he said.

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