New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI): A K Antony was "one of the only" leaders apart from Priyaranjan Dasmunsi who "flatly criticised" Sanjay Gandhi during 1976 AICC session in Guwahati during Emergency when the latter's political graph was on the rise, US diplomatic cables have claimed.
The cables, made public by Wikileaks, also said the party faction led by Antony, the Kerala unit President, refused to support Sanjay and questioned his "rapid ascent to a position of power" asking "what sacrifices he has made for the party or the country".
On the Guwahati AICC session and Youth Congress conclave, the cables said, Sanjay was the star attraction and he received top billing as the prime mover behind the organisation's revitalisation and as a national leader second only to his mother Indira Gandhi.
"He still may be number two, but Sanjay and company keep on trying harder," the cable sent on November 26, 1976 said.
Despite all the fanfare for Sanjay and the Youth Congress, the cables said, US diplomats in Delhi continue to hear and see no evidence that the quality of YC membership "improved measurably".
"Kerala Congress president A K Antony was one of the only leaders to flatly criticise the new Youth Congress and Sanjay. The other key critic was West Bengal Congress leader P R Dasmunsi," it said.
The cable went on to analyse that in the next year, ie 1977, unhappiness among Congressmen and the organisational ineffectiveness will become an increasing problem.
"... the effect of the Guwahati session has probably been to increase unhappiness inside Congress, increase confidence among Youth Congress leaders and further diminish any air of democracy within the Congress organisation," it said.
"If it is accepted that there is any truth in this suspicion (about Rajiv Gandhi). Then just below that cable it is one more report in which the name of a big leader of the NDA figures.
"I do not want to take his name or level any accusation against him because of the condition in which he is. But whether that is also true that he used to get money from the CIA or he had demanded money from the CIA," Dwivedi said.
Reacting to the WikiLeaks cable, Fernandes' wife Leila called it a "piece of fiction".
The cables during Henry Kissinger's time, made public by Wikileaks, claimed that then trade union leader Fernandes sought to get funds from CIA and the French government.
"This is a piece of fiction. There is no question of George asking for funds from CIA. He was very anti-American and you know this," Leila told PTI.
"This is complete falsehood, completely concocted and I strongly refute this false story," she said.