Mysuru: With the state govt likely to issue a notification to conduct elections for president and vice-president of the Mysuru-Chamarajanagar District Central Cooperative Bank (MCDCC), aspirants have begun preparations to take control of this influential financial entity.Congress-backed candidates won 10 of the 17 seats on the board, making it likely that one among them will be elected president. K R Nagar MLA D Ravishankar is backing his father, Doddaswamegowda, while H D Kote MLA Anil Chikkamadu is eyeing the vice-president’s post. “As all the legal disputes related to the elections have now been cleared, the state govt may announce a notification for the elections soon,” Congressman, former minister and state MSIL chairman C S Puttarangashetty (Chamarajanagar) told TOI.The Congress-supported board members will hold a meeting soon and decide on the president and vice-president posts, he said. Elections to the board were held in June. All the three major political parties in the state – Congress, BJP, and JD(S) — took this election as a prestige issue as control over cooperative bank would entail significant political and financial clout, with the bank posting an annual turnover of Rs 2,500 crore. As cooperative banks play a crucial role in agriculture financing in the twin districts of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, most of the time, supporters of JD(S) win a majority of the seats and assume power in these bank boards. Congress, taking this board election as a prestige issue on the home turf of chief minister Siddaramaiah, fielded its legislators for elections to the board of directors. Among the 17 members on the board, ten were elected from Congress. The others who were from JD(S) and BJP. With Congress enjoying a majority on the board, Doddaswamygowda, S Chandrashekhar, and Gundlupet MLA H M Ganeshprasad have emerged as strong contenders for the post of MCDCC president. Chandrashekhar, who has a lot of experience in the cooperative sector, has the support of MLA Tanveer Sait and others. Doddaswamygowda is also eyeing a post on the backward class quota, while H M Ganeshprasad, son of former minister late H S Mahadevprasad, is from the Chamarajanagar district quota. H D Kote MLA Anil Chikkamadu, who entered cooperative elections for the first time, is eyeing the state apex bank vice-president’s post, eyeing a nomination from Mysuru district.
