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  Business   Cyrus Pallonji Mistry’s exit to hit Mamata’s plan

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry’s exit to hit Mamata’s plan

Published : Oct 25, 2016, 2:29 am IST
Updated : Oct 25, 2016, 2:29 am IST

The surprise removal of Cyrus Pallonji Mistry (48), the media-shy sixth chairman (and the second not to be named Tata), as the chairman of Tata Sons, Tata Group’s holding outfit, has come as a kind of

The surprise removal of Cyrus Pallonji Mistry (48), the media-shy sixth chairman (and the second not to be named Tata), as the chairman of Tata Sons, Tata Group’s holding outfit, has come as a kind of setback in the Bengal’s corridors of powers. The “unofficial emissaries” of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who had been burning midnight oils to mend fences between Banerjee and the Tatas, ever since Mistry took over the reins of the over $100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate, replacing Ratan Tata some four years ago, are again skeptical about ending the bitter acrimony between the two, which started in 2007 after Tata had to abandon its Nano plant at Singur. “If you hold a gun to my head, you can pull the trigger or take the gun away. But the head will not move,” Tata had said while shifting the plant. Tata Sons board on Monday named Tata as interim chairman of Tata Sons.

Although nothing concrete had happened in terms of Tatas’ fresh investment in Bengal, during the last four years when Mistry had been at the helms of Tata Sons, things had certainly been looking up and the war of words had stopped, to say the least. There had been more instances than one when the two erstwhile warring camps reportedly sent out fillers across to each other to end the acrimony.

Significantly, on August 31, 2016 the war between Tata and Banerjee finaly reached its culmination which saw SC void the deal between Tatas and the Left government. The Singur episode came a full circle on October 20, when Banerjee handed over possession of re-cultivable Singur land to the farmers. Interestingly, even on that day and in fact at least on two occasions in the last one month, Banerjee invited the Tatas to invest in Bengal. And Tatas under the stewardship of Mistry had been responding positively as well. Even while continuing to fight the legal battle, Mistry and other Tata topbrass had all along been saying that Tatas were open to investing in the state when the state throws up the right opportunity. Tatas’ positive stance was also reflected in being refrained from moving the court, demanding compensation for the Singur land.

Mistry might not have called on the Bengal chief minister personally, but his elder brother and chairman of the $2.5 billion Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group Shapoor Mistry, called on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee soon after she assumed office. SP Group is the single-largest shareholder in Tata group holding company Tata Sons.