Appasaheb Kulagude is new president of BDCC Bank

Belagavi: Appasaheb Kulagude from Raibag emerged as a dark horse in the elections to the post of Belagavi District Central Cooperative (BDCC) Bank president held on Wednesday. He was elected as the new president of the bank unopposed, thanks to the efforts of the Jarkiholi brothers. Kulagude, a four-time director of the bank, is a worker of the Congress party.Kulagude has been elected for the next nine months until the bank's general body elections. The incumbent president, Ramesh Katti, resigned from the post on Oct 5 following differences with other directors. As there was only one nomination, the returning officer announced Kulagude as the president.Former Chikodi MP Annasaheb Jolle, former Kittur MLA Mahantesh Dodagoudar, and vice-president Subhash Dhawaleshwar were in the race, supported by MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, MLA Laxman Savadi, and MLA Balachandra Jarkiholi, respectively. Finally, all agreed on the name of Appasaheb Kulagude in a meeting held at a private hotel in the morning. Interestingly, after many years, the Jarkiholi brothers Satish, Ramesh, and Balachandra, shared a single platform.Appasaheb Kulagude said, "I have been a director of the bank for the past 19 years. I will work hand in hand with the other directors and do my best to take the bank to the next level." Kulagude is a staunch follower of minister Satish Jarkiholi.Balachandra Jarkiholi put in hard efforts to get consensus on a single name to make the elections unopposed. He conducted one-to-one deliberations with the directors for the past two days."Since the BJP directors have been ruling the bank for several decades, this time we all decided to give a nine-month period to the directors from Congress. Among the 16 directors of the bank, 13 are from BJP and the remaining from Congress, including MLA Laxman Savadi," Balachandra told reporters.Balachandra added that it was the committee of seniors, including district in-charge minister Satish Jarkiholi, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Laxman Savadi, former president Ramesh Katti, and KLES chairman Prabhakar Kore, who took the final call on the candidate. Since it's a cooperative bank, nobody wanted to bring politics into it, he clarified.
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