A consensus eluded the all-party meet convened by the government on Saturday to discuss the Iraq crisis with the opposition accusing it of hesitating to directly condemn the US for the military action.

Briefing reporters after the three-hour meeting, Minister for External Affairs Yashwant Sinha said the participants differed on the wording to be used in a joint resolution to be adopted on the issue.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told rediff.com that while the opposition wanted the government to condemn the US-led assault on Iraq, the government would not go beyond the word 'deplore'.

Sinha denied this charge asserting, "There is no hesitation on the government's part to blame the US. There is no secrecy on who we are talking about."

"The language of diplomacy need not always be harsh. One can convey a message through restrained language," Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told the gathering.

Summing up the discussions, Vajpayee clearly stated that India saw no justification for the military action and that the war was avoidable, Sinha told reporters.

Vajpayee felt that if more time was given to UN weapons inspectors, then the objective of disarming Iraq could have been achieved.

The prime minister informed them that India was keeping a close watch on the evolving situation in Iraq as also the response of the international community. The government would continue to endeavour to work together with rest of the international community so that peace returns 'as quickly as possible'.

Vajpayee told the meeting that the government would continue to take all parties into confidence on the issue.

Sinha exhorted the participants of the all-party meeting to leave the wording of the proposed resolution on Iraq to the government so that the nation could put a united front before the international community.

He revealed that 19 Indians had stayed back in Baghdad of their own will and there were no reports of them coming to any harm.

The government is also taking all possible measures for the safety of Indians living in the Gulf region. Sinha said while there has been a 'little more than the normal flow of traffic' from Kuwait, 'there is no evacuation'.

The Indian embassy in Baghdad is intact, he said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M), Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Laloo Prasad Yadav (RJD) were among those who attended the meeting held at Parliament House.