Indian Space Research Organisation chief S Somanath said on Saturday that he has withdrawn the publication of his autobiography after a controversy over some of his alleged remarks about his predecessor K Sivan in the book, reported The Hindu.

The announcement followed a report by the Malayala Manorama quoting excerpts from the book titled Nilavu Kudicha Simhangal, which loosely translates to “lions that drank the moonlight”.

The Malayala Manorama report suggested that Sivan attempted to prevent Somanath from getting the space organisation’s chairmanship.

It stated that when Kiran Kumar’s tenure ended as the ISRO chairman in 2018, Somanath’s name appeared on the list to replace him, along with Sivan. However, Sivan was chosen over him. Sivan also tried to get his tenure extended before his retirement, according to the report.

On Saturday, Somanath told The Hindu that some people have misinterpreted his book. “At no point have I said that Dr Sivan tried to prevent me from becoming the chairman,” he added. “All I said was that being made a member of the space commission is generally seen as a stepping stone to [ISRO’s chairmanship]. However, a director from another [ISRO centre] was placed, so naturally that trimmed my chances [at chairmanship].”

He also pointed out that the book has not been released officially. “My publisher may have released a few copies...but after all this controversy, I have decided to withhold publication,” said the ISRO chairman.

Somanath, however, admitted he had mentioned in his book that there was a lack of clarity around the announcement of the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

The lunar mission was originally scheduled for July 15, 2019, but was called off an hour before the launch. When it eventually took off on July 22, the Vikram lander, which was supposed to smoothly descend onto the moon and then release the Pragyaan rover, deviated from its route. The lander crashed on the moon’s surface because of its high velocity.

“That a software glitch was at fault was known only subsequently,” Somanath told The Hindu. “However, the crashing of the lander was known on that day itself [September 6, 2019]. There was no point in calling it a communication failure.”

Sivan at the time had said that there was a loss of communication with the lander.

Somanath said that he believes “whatever success or failure happens should be transparently communicated”. He clarified that his comments were not meant to target Sivan.