Penguin Random House India on Friday categorically denied that it decided not to publish Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s upcoming memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love after the author declined editorial changes, saying it had remained “willing and keen” to publish the book throughout the discussions.Breaking its silence amid reports over why it was not publishing the memoir in India, the publishing house, however, acknowledged that fact-checking and recommendations to authors were part of the publishing process.“Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Belonging in India. Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” the company said in an official statement.The clarification comes amid reports that Penguin had decided against publishing the memoir in India following differences over editorial changes suggested to the former Congress president.Without disclosing what transpired between the publisher and the author, Penguin defended its editorial process, maintaining that fact-checking and making recommendations were both its right and responsibility.“As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books. This is a normal part of the publishing process,” it said.Significantly, Penguin said that despite the discussions, its position throughout was that it wanted to publish the memoir.“Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India’s position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book,” it said, while drawing a line under the controversy by adding: “We will not comment further on confidential discussions with the author.”With Penguin Random House India now confirming that it is not publishing Belonging in the country, attention has shifted to who will secure the Indian rights. Several publishers are reportedly in the race, with HarperCollins understood to be close to finalising a deal to publish and distribute the memoir in India.The book is scheduled for international release on November 10 through Alfred A. Knopf, the American publishing house and an imprint of Penguin Random House.The memoir promises a rare first-person account of Sonia Gandhi’s journey from her childhood in Italy to the centre of Indian politics and the Nehru-Gandhi family.“Much has been written about my family, but few narratives were able to reach into the truth of their motivations, their actions and even their very human failings,” Sonia Gandhi said in a statement issued through Knopf.The book will also revisit the two assassinations that transformed her life — that of her mother-in-law and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991.“It was heartbreak and loss that threw me into the public world of politics. Up till then I had guarded my privacy fiercely,” Sonia Gandhi said.She eventually entered active politics, became the longest-serving Congress president and, after the Congress-led alliance returned to power in 2004, declined the party’s offer to become Prime Minister.