"Nothing Is Cast In Stone. Perceptions Change With Time."

I’ve neither won nor lost. I was in no battle.I don’t want to go into thepast because going into the past is dysfunctional. And I haven’t said anything aboutanybody that should stand in the way of tomorrow. When I take over on January 1 as chiefexecutive, I will take all initiatives that are in the larger interest of shareholders. Ihave cordial relations with members on the board. Differing perceptions will be there andI will work towards resolving differences. It is naive to think that there won’t beany disagreements among people. Though, so far, there has been far too little dialogue tosay that there are disagreements.

I don’t know BAT’s views on most issues first hand. But BAT has to supportITC, not me. I think their support should be issue based so that we can move forward. Weneed to have a greater dialogue between us, so that we can understand each other’sviews. I don’t think there are any fixed positions. Nothing is cast instone.Perceptions change with time and differences can be worked through.

I wouldn’t like to pre-empt the issue with my views. I would bequite happy to go with the board’s view. The vice-chairman’s position in ITCnormally occurs only when you foresee succession, or when you have a director who is goingto retire very soon, and you want to acknowledge his work. It is not a position in thestructure per se. When the last chairman took over in November 1991, there was novice-chairman or second deputy-chairman, only directors. So there is no pressing need.

It has been a distracting episode. The sooner we can get away from it,the better. Once media speculation is out of the way, a major part of the problem is over.It’s time we got down to productive work. If there are any ruffled feathers anddiminished morale, any differing perceptions in relation to personalities, they need to bedealt with. We have to commence dialogue to elicit involvement and commitment.

My own views or vision are not relevant. When the board arrives at acollective decision on where ITC should be by the year 2000, that should be relevant andthat would be the ITC view.