Over Rs 1,900 Crore of Himachal Govt Stuck in Crisis-Hit Yes Bank, Says CM Jai Ram Thakur

Shimla: Over Rs, 1,900 crore belonging to the Himachal Pradesh government and the public are stuck in crisis-hit Yes Bank, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told the state assembly here on Thursday.

In a statement after the question hour in the Budget session, Thakur told the House that Rs 1,909 crore of the government and people in the state are deposited in nearly 32,000 accounts of Yes Bank's nine branches located across the state.

Hundreds of crores of several state government institutions, including HP Cooperative Bank, Kangra Central Cooperative Bank, HP Infrastructure Development Board, HP Power Transmission Corporation and the Dharamshala Smart City project, have also been stuck in the bank, he said.

The CM added that these institutions had started depositing money in the bank before the current government came to power in the state on December 27, 2017.

Thakur said the Union government was making efforts to revive Yes Bank.

The centre had appointed SBI's former chief financial officer as the bank's administrator.

The SBI will ensure its share of 26 per cent in Yes Bank, which may increase up to 49 percent, he said, adding that the SBI would formulate a plan to revive the beleaguered bank within a week.

The CM said the RBI had already stated that the money of the depositors in Yes Bank is secure and safe.

Thakur further stated that Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri on Wednesday asked which influential person had promoted Yes Bank in the state.

"I want to tell that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi had sold her late father Rajiv Gandhi's painting to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor for Rs 2 crore," he said.

Intervening, Agnihotri said the CM should also tell to whom the prime minister's expensive suit had been sold.

Later participating in the discussion on the State Budget for 2020-21, senior Congress legislator Asha Kumari said, "The CM should not have levelled allegations against Priyanka as it is not proper to do so against a person who is not even a member of the House."

Beginning the discussion on the Budget on Wednesday, Agnihotri had said Yes Bank had been facing a crisis for the past one year.

"Why did the state government institutions not make any effort to withdraw the amount from Yes Bank," he had asked.