DC Books refutes media reports in autobiography controversy of EP Jayarajan ( Ld)
Kottayam, Nov 26 (IANS) Refuting media reports that Ravi DC, the supremo of DC Books, who appeared before the Crime Branch police team on Monday, had admitted that there was no agreement with veteran CPI-M leader E.P. Jayarajan in his autobiography controversy, the publishing house has now released a statement.
Soon after the statement refuting the media reports came, a top official of the publishing house was suspended.
The statement on the social media page of DC Books said in the E.P. Jayarajan issue, DC Books has given their statement before the investigation team.
"The news that's presently coming out in a section of the media is baseless and is creating confusion. We do our business according to rules and procedures. As the probe is presently going on, expression of opinion is not needed," it said in a statement.
After this came the next news that the Publication division head of SC Books, A. V. Sreekumar has been suspended after an internal probe conducted by the publishing house.
The report had earlier appeared in a section of the media after Ravi DC had finished giving his statement as he admitted to the probe team that there was no agreement with Jayarajan.
Both Jayarajan and DC Books will have to now answer more questions.
This controversy began on November 13, as Kerala saw two by-elections, and television channels released reports about his autobiography, slated for release by Kerala's leading publishing house DC Books.
The book titled "Kattan Chayayum Paripvada" was quickly put on hold after the news surfaced about its contents following the controversy.
It allegedly highlights Jayarajan's dissatisfaction with the party's failure to listen to him.
It also criticises the party's choice of candidates for the April Lok Sabha elections and the selection of P. Sarin, a former Congress member, as the Left-backed candidate for the Palakkad Assembly by-election on November 20.
Sarin eventually came third in the contest.
Jayarajan refuted the reports, stating multiple times that he is still writing his autobiography and was shocked to hear the news of its release.
He added that there was a conspiracy hatched to put him and his party in a poor light and soon gave a written complaint to the state police chief, seeking a probe.
Jayarajan remained firm on his stand and informed the party state Secretariat of having done no wrong.
CPI-M State Secretary, M.V. Govindan, came to Jayarajan's defence and gave him a clean chit.
Since being denied a ticket in the 2021 Assembly elections, Jayarajan has been unpredictable, frequently putting his party in challenging positions.
On April 26 -- the polling date for the Lok Sabha elections in the state, he, after casting his vote, said senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar had met him at his son's residence in the state capital city and this created a huge furore, which eventually saw his exit as the Convenor of the ruling CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front.
--IANS
sg/khz