SRO Chairman S Somanath on Saturday said he was withdrawing from publishing his upcoming autobiography, after a controversy erupted over some of his alleged critical remarks about his predecessor K Sivan in the book.

Somanath confirmed he has decided to withdraw the publication of the book 'Nilavu Kudicha Simhangal' (loosely translated as - Lions that drank the moonlight), in the light of the controversy.

Earlier in the day, talking to PTI, he said every person would have to go through some kind of challenges during their journey to reach a top position in an organisation.

Somanath was responding to a report that claimed his autobiography had some critical remarks about Sivan.

"Persons holding such key positions may have to go through several challenges. One among them is the challenges with regard to getting positions in an organisation," he said, adding these are challenges that everyone has to go through.

"More persons might be eligible for a significant post. I just tried to bring out that particular point. I didn't target any particular individual in this regard," he explained.

He admitted he mentioned in his book the lack of clarity in connection with the announcement of the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. India's second lunar mission in 2019 failed to achieve its soft-landing objective.

The ISRO Chairman reiterated his autobiography was an attempt to inspire people who wish to achieve by fighting challenges and obstacles in life and not criticise anyone.

The autobiography, with its mention of his humble beginnings among others, was aimed at inspiring the talented, yet not so confident, he had earlier said.

"The book is not intended to teach my life story. Its only intention is to inspire people to chase their dreams while battling adversities in life," the ISRO Chairman had told PTI earlier.

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