Entrepreneur Poonawalla likely to move court over SBI's loan write off

New Delhi [India], Nov.23 (ANI): The past couple of weeks have been eventful for the country. While citizens are struggling to make peace with the decision to demonetise Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes, and are queuing up in long lines to withdraw their own money legitimately from their bank accounts, politicians in the opposition are alleging that the government is helping influential people to settle their bad debts and unaccounted for cash. The State Bank of India (SBI), the largest public sector lender, earlier this week decided to wave-off the loans of willful defaulters. This amounts to a staggering Rs 7,016 crores, for as many as 63 defaulters! And amongst these, the 'King of Good Times', Vijay Mallya, managed to 'steal' the show yet again, literally. With an outstanding of almost Rs 1,201 crores, Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines headed the list of generosity extended by the State Bank of India. With the opposition uniting in what it has termed as a mockery of the the common man's plight, who is struggling to cope up with this abrupt change, while the rich and famous get away with their defaults?, entrepreneur and Congress supporter, Tehseen Poonawalla, has reportedly decided to move court against this decision of the SBI. While Poonawalla was unavailable for comment, but sources close to him confirmed the action. "Mr.Poonawalla has repeatedly said that demonetisation is the biggest scam of the Modi government. By wiping out the 1000 and 500 rupee notes and forcing people to deposit it in banks and not allowing them to withdraw their own money in an unrestricted manner, the government is ensuring that the RBI balance its books by writing off the almost six lakh crores NPAs (Non-Performing Assets) of all banks. Almost all of these NPAs are of influential people who are supporters of the Modi government. And after the SBI's call to write off loans of key willful defaulters, including that of Vijay Mallya, it is more than evident that the Modi government holds a soft corner for the defaulter, while the poor continues to suffer," said Farz Khan, his spokesperson. Another source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Poonawalla plans to file plea against the write off to Vijay Mallya and make both the SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya and the Ministry of Finance parties to his petition. Poonawalla has said so publicly and intends to question the SBI chairperson through the courts that "If write off of loans and loan recovery are different things, then why doesn't the SBI write off all bad loans and separately continue recovery?" (ANI)