Rahul Jarkiholi to represent Belagavi in Karnataka State Apex Cooperative Bank

Rahul Jarkiholi will represent Belagavi district in the Karnataka State Apex Cooperative Bank in Bengaluru.

Members of the board of directors of the Belagavi District Central Cooperative Bank took this unanimous decision to select Mr. Rahul Jarkiholi, who is one of the directors. He is the son of Satish Jarkiholi, Minister and Congress leader. The 26-year-old aeronautical engineer also serves as the State Youth Congress general secretary.

He replaces Laxman Savadi, who has served as the BDCC representative in the apex bank for over 15 years. The nomination is being seen as the political fallout between the Jarkiholi and the Savadi families. The long pending political differences between the two families with considerable clout came to the fore during the campaign to the rural electricity society in Hukkeri, where they supported different panels.

Local political compulsions had forced BJP leaders Balachandra Jarkiholi and Anna Saheb Jolle to campaign against fellow party leader Ramesh Katti. Mr. Katti in turn, aligned with Congress leader Mr. Savadi in the Hukkeri society polls and the BDCC polls. Mr. Katti and Mr. Savadi were elected from their constituencies, but the majority of seats were won by the Jolle-Jarkiholi panel.

However, Balachandra Jarkiholi, MLA, dismissed speculation that the nomination was politically motivated. “This is a routine process,” he told reporters in Belagavi on Thursday. “Every five years, each district central cooperative bank has to nominate a director to the apex bank. It so happened that Mr. Savadi has served as BDCC representative for over 15 years. He did everything to help farmers in the district. Earlier, Congress leader Laxmanrao Chingale had also served as the representative for quite some time. Now, the BDCC board has decided to nominate Mr. Rahul Jarkiholi. It will be an opportunity for him to learn and understand how cooperative institutions work and how BDCC ‘s functioning can be improved,” Mr. Balachandra Jarkiholi said.