MUMBAI | NEW DELHI: Tata Motors’ independent directors appear to have struck a blow for embattled chairman Cyrus Mistry by backing his strategy and that of the management after a marathon meeting on Monday.The directors also affirmed that the company will be governed, managed and supervised by the board. One independent director said the statement was drafted by Nasser Munjee and was endorsed by every independent director.“We are trying to avoid conflict,” said Munjee. “We are behaving like independent directors. We have been accused of being in the Cyrus camp but we aren’t in any camp. As independent directors we can’t be. We are just worried about the company.And our statement today supports decisions of the past. We haven’t made any statement about the future. It is for the shareholders to decide who they want as chairman. Independent directors cannot decide that.”“The draft went through several iterations before it was finalised. The final version was approved unanimously. It is similar to the statement issued by the Tata Chemicals directors,” Munjee said. Both statements refer to the chairman without naming him.Interestingly, Munjee and independent directors Nusli Wadia and Subodh Bhargava met for dinner after the meeting.Other independent directors who attended the board meeting were Falguni Nayar and VK Jairath. R Mashelkar wasn’t present.“The independent directors have confirmed that all decisions taken by the board with regard to the strategy, operation and business have been unanimous and executed by the chairman and management accordingly,” the Tata Motors statement said on Monday. “The independent directors have further affirmed that the company continues to be governed, supervised and managed under guidance and direction of the board.The management of the company and its subsidiaries have full confidence and support of independent directors,” the statement added.But as has been the case in this tumultuous affair, two narratives have emerged about what exactly transpired at the meeting.Sources close to Tata Sons say that some independent directors objected to a clear-cut pledge of support for the chairman, Cyrus Mistry, and to naming him in the public release. The release makes no mention of a pledge of unanimous support to his leadership like in the case of IHCL. “The statement is different and less strong than the one issued in case of Tata Chemicals and substantially different and weaker than the one issued by Indian Hotels,” said a source close to Tata Sons.But another independent director dismissed talk of differences. “There was absolutely no difference of opinion between the independent directors.All that was discussed was Tata Motors’ performance. Whatever wrong has happened in the company has happened because of unanimous decisions of all the directors. There wasn’t a single word discussed about the chairman or his performance,” he said.He said that the directors first agreed that there will be no discussion on Tata Sons and Cyrus Mistry. They would only take cognisance of the instability being caused by what they described as “speculative press reports and the general happenings”.“Two paragraph minutes were then prepared which was unanimously approved by all the five IDs. It was then placed before the board. The board took cognisance of it and said it was “material information” and issued it to the stock exchange,” he added. “The idea was to make it (the statement) as crisp and non-committal as can be,” said Munjee.Independent directors of three out of the six major Tata companies have now supported Mistry, whether strongly or otherwise, and the management. Independent directors of Indian Hotels were the first to express unanimous support followed by Tata Chemicals last week. That statement explicitly referred to Mistry.Differences of opinion in a similar meet at Tata Steel did not produce a consensus and a public statement was abandoned.In the Tata Chemicals meet, the directors did not name Mistry but extended unanimous support to the chairman, the board and the management while reiterating that all decisions were taken unanimously by the board and executed by the chairman.The Tata Motors statement is also the first time that independent directors have publicly inserted a declaration that the company will work under the guidance and supervision of the board. The statements of support from IHCL and Tata Chemicals directors contain no such statement.The source close to Tata Sons quoted earlier claimed that the Tata Motors board statement “contradicted” arguments advanced by Mistry about the viability of the Nano project in his email sent to Tata Sons after his sacking on October 24. This was because the board statement endorsed the company’s strategy which Mistry had criticised, the source said.