Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Bank closure hurts Telugu sentiment

The Andhra sentiment is hurt. This is after the Narendra Modi government’s decision to merge Andhra Bank with Union Bank of India and Corporation Bank. Andhra Bank as an entity will cease to exist. 

The announcement was followed by an outpouring of grief over social media because Andhra Bank and State Bank of Hyderabad were the only two banking entities that carried the Andhra-Telangana name. SBH is already history, having been merged with the State Bank of India. 

Andhra Bank was founded as a private bank in November 1923 in the coastal town of Machilipatnam by Bhogaraju Pattabhi Seetharamaya, well-known freedom fighter and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. Just four years short of completing its century, Andhra Bank’s innings has been declared. 

Rajya Sabha MP KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress wrote to Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting her to reconsider the decision. He has asked Sitharaman to continue Andhra Bank as a separate PSU bank or at least retain the name of Andhra Bank to the group of banks being merged with it. 

“The Telugu speaking people, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, are bearing on emotion that the Government of India is completely ignoring their sentiments since the bifurcation of the first linguistic state and consequent failure of the BJP government to fulfil the assurances given to them during the bifurcation in Parliament. Now the government’s decision to Damnation Memoriae the Andhra Bank hurts their sentiments. I strongly feel that this at least shall not happen when a daughter-in-law of Andhra state is heading the Union ministry of Finance,” Ramachandra Rao wrote. 

YSRCP MP from Machilipatnam V Balashowry too has expressed similar sentiments in his separate letter to the Finance minister.

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