Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said a meeting on Tuesday between members of the dominant Congress party and its left-wing allies, who are trying to block the accord, took place in a "cordial atmosphere."

Although there was no breakthrough, he said talks would resume on October 22 -- easing speculation that the Communists could withdraw their backing for the government and force early elections.

"The government will not fall," India's pro-Congress railways minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, told reporters. Senior Communist Party official D. Raja also said the two sides "have agreed to discuss further."

The nuclear deal with the US will allow energy-hungry India to buy civilian nuclear technology while possessing atomic weapons and despite not having signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In exchange, India must put selected nuclear facilities under international safeguards, including inspections.

The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi view the pact as crucial for future growth, as well as to bring India into the mainstream of global nuclear commerce.

But the Communists and left-wing parties who prop up the government say it would pull the traditionally non-aligned country closer to the United States, and compromise New Delhi's military programme.

Mukherjee said that during Tuesday's meeting, the fourth on the crisis, "discussions were also initiated on the implications of the nuclear agreement on foreign policy and security cooperation."

India's left is particularly concerned that Washington is attaching foreign policy conditions to the deal, such as demanding India scale down its dealings with oil- and gas-rich Iran.

Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai described the relationship between the Congress and left-wing parties as "pretty tense," especially after Gandhi on Sunday branded opponents of the pact as "enemies of progress and development."

The tensions also overshadowed the start of a three-day visit by UN atomic energy agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs to negotiate new safeguards with India for the deal with the US to go ahead.

A day ahead of his meeting with premier Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday, the IAEA chief said he was ready to discuss the IAEA accord whenever New Delhi chose to do so.

"Whenever the Indian government is ready they will approach me and I will listen to them," he told reporters after visiting a nuclear medicine facility in a suburb of Mumbai.

Officials say New Delhi must clinch the IAEA pact in the coming weeks to meet a deadline to get final approval for the agreement from the US Congress, although that now looks unlikely.

But after the coalition panel meeting on Tuesday, Communist leader A B Bardhan said the government was unlikely to start "formal negotiations" with the IAEA before a resolution of the issue within the coalition.

"Our talks are continuing. I don't think anything (the deal) will be operationalised," he said.

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