Cyrus Mistry says Vijay Singh cooking up stories to defend Ratan Tata

Mumbai: The war of words between Cyrus Mistry and Tatas doesn't seem to die down soon. Just after Tatas came up with a press release bashing Mistry on Sunday, the ousted chairman has replied by accusing Vijay Singh, a nominee director on the Tata Sons board, of cooking up theories "to defend his role in the conspiracy" hatched by Ratan Tata to sack him as the chairman.

"It's amusing to see Vijay Singh concoct theories to defend his role in Ratan Tata's conspiracy to replace Mistry," a statement issued from his office claimed today.

Mistry also claimed that being a part of the nominations and remuneration committee (NRC) of Tata Sons, Singh had on June 28, 2016 gave a glowing review of his (Mistry's) performance as the chairman of the Tata Group.

"After reviewing the performance of the chairman, the members unanimously recorded their recognition of his significant contributions across group companies and expressed their appreciation of his multi-faceted initiatives aimed at preserving and promoting cohesive functioning of the group in accordance of its distinctive values," Mistry said quoting from the minutes of the meeting as recorded by the board of Tata Sons.

On charges that "Mistry was doing nothing" at Tata Motors, the ousted chairman claimed that Singh had stated that "Tata Motors has come up with some of their best models in recent years under his watch".

He also said Singh was part of the Tata Sons board that agreed that the company could evaluate opportunities in the QSR segment at the board meeting on June 29, 2016. Singh had said this was one of the reasons for the sacking of Mistry.

Singh had claimed that another reason for Ratan Tata losing his confidence in Mistry was the group's failed bids (two separate bids Tata Power and Tata Motors for the multi-thousand crore Future Combat Infantry Vehicle contract from the Army).

On this, Mistry today said Singh and Tata both were very much in the loop on various discussions on the project.

"What is beyond comprehension is that Singh seems to want Tata Sons to favour one listed Tata company over another. This would not happen under Mistry's watch," the statement said today. 

Vijay Singh joined the Tats Sons board as a nominee director of the Tats Trusts in 2013.

Mistry questioned the reasons behind the massive 45 per cent hike in Singh's sitting fees from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1.3 crore over the past one year alone.

Mistry also denied his claim on the Tata-Power Welspun Power deal, saying Singh, as a trust nominated director had explicitly supported this strategy.

Mistry claimed he invited Singh to join the Tata Sons board after being asked by Ratan Tata in 2013 as a nominee of the Tata Trusts.

With PTI Inputs