An all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here today to discuss the Iraq crisis failed to arrive at a joint resolution even as the Centre refuted the Opposition charge that it was reluctant to ‘‘condemn’’ the United States.After the two-hour meeting, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha told the media that ‘‘there was no consensus on the formulation’’ for a resolution. Sources said the reason was that the Opposition insisted on using the word ‘‘condemn’’ for US action against Iraq, while the government opposed it.Vajpayee stated that India saw no justification for the military action and said the war was avoidable. In an apparent dig at leaders who had accused the government of not coming out strongly on the issue, Vajpayee said: ‘‘The language of diplomacy need not always be the harshest.’’Those present at the meeting included Congress president Sonia Gandhi, CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.While the Congress later accused the government of dithering on the issue, Somnath Chatterjee said the Centre’s wish to please the US came in the way of an agreement on a resolution.
