Bengaluru. The Karnataka government has postponed the decision to close the accounts of all its offices in State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) for 15 days. The Congress government of Karnataka says that CM Siddaramaiah has decided to postpone the decision to close the accounts after the request from the banks. The government statement said that postponing the decision now will give SBI and PNB time to address our concerns and resolve the issues.
#Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government halts August 12 circular; PNB deposit and circular on SBI put on hold.
NDTV’s @PratibaRaman reports pic.twitter.com/lNwpNwWhkH
— NDTV (@ndtv) August 17, 2024
Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah government had earlier issued an order on August 12. Under this order, all departments, corporations, public sector units, boards and universities of the Karnataka government were asked to immediately stop transactions with SBI and PNB. In the order, the Congress government of Karnataka had said that money should not be deposited or invested in SBI and PNB. The Karnataka government alleges that its money deposited in SBI and PNB is being misused. According to the Siddaramaiah government, SBI and PNB were warned several times about the alleged misuse, but these banks did not take any action. After which the Karnataka government took the decision to stop doing transactions with SBI and PNB.
Politics had also heated up due to the order of Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah-led Congress government to stop transactions in SBI and PNB. BJP was alleging that an attempt was being made to give financial blow to these two banks by closing the accounts of Karnataka government departments in SBI and PNB. A BJP MP from Karnataka had even written a letter to the Modi government expressing his apprehension about this. Now it remains to be seen whether the accounts of Karnataka government remain active in SBI and PNB after the 15-day deadline or an order is given again to close them.
