No special priviledge for me, says Kamat

South Indian Bank muddle

Caught in the controversy regarding favours from the South Indian Cooperative Bank, Gurudas Kamat, MP and president, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, wondered as to why questions were being raised about his family alone, when the bank had given facility of one-time settlement to 600 other customers.

Speaking to Business Standard, Kamat claimed that his family had taken a loan of Rs 25 lakh from the bank in 1996, after which his family business ran into trouble, because of which the loan could not be repaid on time.

Kamat said that like other customers of the bank, his family too was offered a one-time settlement and was asked to pay Rs 31.1 lakh within eight days. He said, "Prior to this, my family had paid Rs 7.5 lakh, which means that I had paid nearly Rs 39 lakh."

He claimed an attempt was being made to frame him for the alleged Rs 100 crore fraud at the South Indian Bank.

Questioning the timing of story, he said that the RBI report on the affairs of the South Indian Cooperative Bank was released nearly eight months ago, but the time to release it was chosen carefully to malign his image as rumours about the Cabinet reshuffle at the Centre were rife in the political circle.

He sarcastically remarked, "I have no quarrels with those who want to become minister. They can very well get into the Cabinet on their own political merits but please do not try to malign me and my family."