she must know, in the past having taken our money. He would know that she would know that he would know this)," he writes in the entry.

Image: Former US Senator and ambassador to India, late Daniel Patrick MoynihanPhotographs: Reuters

'Such derogatory interferences don't' deserve a comment'

It is not clear from the book titled 'Daniel Patrick Moynihan; A Portrait in Letter of an American Visionary' what is the basis of the ambassador's account of the Gandhi-Kissinger meeting since he himself records that he was not present. At one point he uses the expression 'if I surmise correctly' about the exchanges between the two leaders.

Asked about the allegation, Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said in New Delhi, "36 years later if somebody decides to write a book, which contains unsubstantiated, derogatory andmalicious inferences, we will not like to dignify it with a comment."

Image: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, speaks during a conference in KeralaPhotographs: Reuters

'US has never sought any internal political influence in India'

Two months later, Moynihan wrote in a letter to Dhar that the United States saw its interest lying in the success and continuance of the 'present' Indian regime.

Recollecting that there was a time when US support to the Indian regime was quite concrete, which did not exist since 1966, he said in the letter, "Nevertheless, we still support the Congress party in more general way as any careful examination of our policies would demonstrate."

Moynihan said, "In the most generalised sense, we wish them well also. But we recognise that the Congress party has been and continues