New Delhi: A day after ousted Censor Board Chief Anupam Kher announced he had sent a legal notice to CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet for allegedly dubbing him an "RSS man", party leader Sitaram Yechury said the actor had not been referred to as such in an article in the CPM organ.

Kher has not been referred to in the 'People's Democracy' article by Surjeet as an RSS man "but as an appointee of the earlier Government," Yechury, who is the Editor of the mouthpiece, told reporters when asked to comment on the matter.

The CPM leader said veteran actor Vijay Anand had also been removed as the chief of the Censor Board before his term ended.

"The same thing was done to Vijay Anand and Kher was brought in. Therefore, he has been an appointee of that particular mindset", he said.

Kher had, at a press conference yesterday (Oct 15, 2004), announced he had sent the notice to Surjeet for allegedly dubbing him as an "RSS man" and attacked the Left parties for his "humiliating" removal saying he was "dumped by those in power for a mere 60 seats (in Lok Sabha)."

To a question on director Prakash Jha's film on 'Emergency', Yechury said the Left parties, which faced the brunt of assault during that period, would oppose "anything to whitewash what happened then".

He said, "The Right to show what happened at that point of time cannot be taken away".