Finally, Tata Tea hits back over Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan?s heated words at rain-chilled Munnar. The company has even rushed its ace troubleshooter Percy T Siganporia, managing director, Tata Tea, to do the fire-fighting for the Tata Tea sibling Kanan Devan Hills Plantations in its spat with Kerala government.
Siganporia, in a press conference here on Sunday, categorically denied the state government?s charges that Kannan Devan Plantation Company had encroached on government land in Munnar. On the contrary, the company claimed a shortage of 278.23 hectares in Kannan Devan firm?s total land holding.
?If we have not taken any legal recourse against the tarnishing campaign, it?s just because we are not in the litigation business. Nor do we intend to count the brownie points earned in debates not based on facts,? says Siganporia, in a reference to Achuthanandan?s threat to ?retrieve over 50,000 hectares from Tata Tea. The chief minister had personally visited Munnar last fortnight to supervise the replacement of a ?Tata Tea? hoarding with that of ?government of Kerala?.