BJP ally rejects troops for Iraq ahead of talks with PM

Vajpayee was to meet his top security cabinet late Saturday followed by separate talks with the two dozen parties in his coalition, a government spokesman said.

However, no date has been set to announce a decision and Vajpayee leaves Sunday on a six-day visit to China.

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While some of the premier's top aides seem to be leaning towards the US request for troops, there is stiff resistance both from opposition parties and members of Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist BJP party who argue that Indian troops must only come under the UN flag, not US-British command.

Just hours before the meeting, Bal Thackeray, chief of the far-right Hindu party Shiv Sena which is part of the coalition, urged Vajpayee to reject the "US pressure" to send troops.

"Did America ask us when it attacked Iraq?" Thackeray told his party's mouthpiece Samna (Confrontation).

"Why then should we oblige? Sending troops to Iraq at America's behest would be very foolish," he said.

"Turning down the American request for troops is the only way to show self-respect. Accepting the American demand is not in the interests of the nation," he said.