Speculation is rife that candidates fighting the Belagavi DCC Bank elections are involved in resort politics, by shifted their voters to resorts away from the district.
Polling for the three contested seats in the 16-member board of directors of the bank is scheduled on Friday. The other 13 have been elected unopposed.
It is said that MLA Anjali Nimbalkar had shifted her loyalists to a private resort in Maharashtra. Unverified claims put the number of her followers at 28, out of the 50 members of the Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperatives in the taluk.
She is supposed to be seeking help from Ashok Chavan, her nephew and former Maharashtra Chief Minister. Her rival and former MLA Arvind Patil had ferried 20 members of Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperatives to another resort on the the Karnataka-Goa border, sources said. District BJP leaders Ramesh Jarkiholi and Laxman Savadi are helping Mr. Patil, according to the sources.
Mr. Patil, however, denied the reports. “I have served as DCC Bank director for one term already. If the Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperatives members want me elected, they will vote for me. Otherwise, they will not. I cannot abduct them or keep them restrained or even keep them entertained till polling day. I don’t have that kind of money,” he told The Hindu.
Dr. Nimbalkar said that she had also heard of such reports, but she was not in a position to either confirm or deny them. She expressed the confidence that she would win the polls, though she would not disclose the number of members supporting her.
