Stop Pranab Mukherjee's memoir, says son; 'Please don't,' responds daughter

The book, which is a memoir, has been in news already after some excerpts of the same found space in media where the former President had blamed Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the party's debacle in 2014.

Ahead of the book's release, Abhijit Mukherjee, who is a Congress leader, made a surprise request to the publishers to stop the publishing of the book until he goes through the content and gives his consent for publication.

Sooner, Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha, who is also a Congress leader asked his brother to not seek cheap publicity by stopping its publication.

The spat over the release of their father's book was in public view as both expressed their opinions on Twitter.

At first in a series of tweets, Abhjit Mukherjee wrote: "I, the son of the author of the Memoir 'The Presidential Memoirs' request you to kindly stop the publication of the memoir as well as motivated excerpts which is already floating in certain media platforms without my written consent," Mr Mukherjee posted.

"Since my father is no more , I being his son want to go through the contents of the final copy of the book before it's publication as I believe, had my father been alive today, he too would have done the same," he wrote.

"Therefore, I being his son request You to immediately stop it's publication without my written consent till I go through its contents ! I have already sent you a detailed letter in this regard which will reach You soon!"

Two hours later, his sister Sharmistha slammed him for trying to stop the publication over cheap publicity gains and even called out her brother for the title error that he had himself amended in a tweet.

"I, daughter of the author of the memoir ‘The Presidential Years’, request my brother @ABHIJIT_LS  not to create any unnecessary hurdles in publication of the last book written by our father. He completed the manuscript before he fell sick," Sharmistha Mukherjee tweeted.

"The final draft contains my dads’ hand written notes & comments that have been strictly adhered to. The views expressed by him are his own & no one should try to stop it from being published for any cheap publicity. That would be the greatest disservice to our departed father," she said.

The final volume of Pranab Mukherjee's memoirs, which is scheduled to be out soon, is a highly anticipated book since speculations are rife that it may deliver internal truths of the Congress party.

This comes at a time when the Congress is already facing criticisms from several of its own senior members, who have raised questions on the party's leadership.

In his book, Mukherjee had also written that some of the party members believed that if had been the Prime Minister, the party would not have lost its power.

"Some members of the Congress have theorized that, had I become the PM in 2004, the party might have averted the 2014 Lok Sabha drubbing. Though I don't subscribe to this view, I do believe that the party's leadership lost political focus after my elevation as president." Mukherjee writes, according to excerpts from "The Presidential Years" released by publishers Rupa.

"While Sonia Gandhi was unable to handle the affairs of the party, Dr (Manmohan) Singh's prolonged absence from the House put an end to any personal contact with other MPs," he had written