The meeting, due to take place at 6:00 pm (1230 GMT), comes a day before a Pentagon team is due to arrive in New Delhi in an attempt to dispel Indian misgivings over contributing troops to the US-led effort to stabilise Iraq.

Led by Peter Rodman, Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs, the US team which arrives in New Delhi late Sunday will hold talks with senior defence and foreign ministry officials Monday.

"It will be a one-day visit," an official said.

A request was made to New Delhi in early May by the United States, which is facing growing difficulties in replacing its own occupation troops with an international stabilisation force in the war-ravaged country.

While Vajpayee's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party seems to be considering the American request favourably, some opposition groups are vehemently opposed to the idea of Indian soldiers working under US and British command, rather than under the UN flag.

On June 4, Gandhi, head of the main opposition Congress party, wrote to Vajpayee expressing the party's reservations on the issue.

But Congress sources told AFP Sunday that the party was "examining" various aspects related to the proposal and would express its views after the outcome of the visit by the Pentagon team.

The softening of the Congress position could be due to statements by American envoy to India, Robert Blackwill, last week that if New Delhi decided to send troops they would not be used in combat operations and would not work under the US flag.

"If Indian troops were deployed they would do so under the Indian flag," he said.

"We have a peacekeeping mission in mind (for India) and as you know the latest United Nations Security Council resolution welcomed contributions for Iraqi stabilisation," he said.

Blackwill denied any pressure was being placed on New Delhi to send troops and said if India decided not to do so, it would not damage bilateral relations.

Last week, deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, while on a visit to the United States, hit out opponents of the move.

"The opposition, without all the facts, gave their one-sided opinion that sending troops to Iraq is wrong," Advani said.

"They are entitled to their views. But the government of India will take its decision based on national interest," he said after meetings with US leaders including President George W. Bush and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington.

Advani reportedly made it clear during his visit that India wanted to see US pressure applied to Pakistan to end what New Delhi terms "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir before it will decide on whether to agree to troop deployment in Iraq.

Bush assured Advani that he would persuade Musharraf to address India's concerns when he holds talks with him on June 24, during the Pakistan president's visit to Washington, reports added.

A report in the Hindustan Times Sunday said India wanted the proposed stabilisation force to be modelled on the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which has the sanction of the UN Security Council.

India will seek clarification on the duties and rules of engagement of any troops it sends to Iraq, besides a timeframe for setting up of an interim government in Iraq, the report said.

Sources said a decision on sending the troops would only be taken later this week.

WAR.WIRE