Although the Senate trial, if it happens, will open right around the time of the next round of talks in mid-January between US Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott and now External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, officials say the dialogue will go ahead as scheduled even if the spectacle unfolds.

The talks will be convulsed only if Clinton quits, a remote possibility at this time. In the American system, executive functions are fairly delinked from the political process, although many senior administration officials are political appointees (though they are not necessarily politicians.)For instance, Strobe Talbott himself is a Clinton appointee and does not hold any elected office. Should Clinton resign, he would go too, unless Clinton's designated successor in such an event, Al Gore, chooses to retain him. But officials say these are remotescenarios and, as things stand, the dialogue is set to go ahead. ``The January round will be crucial. Both sides have now laid their cards on the table,'' an informed Indian diplomat said.However, the impeachment certainly clouds the possible visit to the sub-continent by President Clinton a star-crossed trip that has been deferred repeatedly and now slated for spring of 1999 if the nuclear and strategic problems are sorted out. To many Indian minds, there is no great percentage in having a tainted President who is at the end of his political career make a token visit.

New Delhi also continues to be irked by Washington's persistent equating of India and Pakistan despite talking often of ties with the two countries not being a ``zero-sum game''. Indian officials find this business of evenhandedness so nettlesome that last week a planned private trip of Assistant Secretary of State Rick Inderfurth to the region was also a subject of some prickly comment: Inderfurth was going to holiday both in India andPakistan (and Nepal, too).

As it turned out, the bombing of Baghdad and domestic developments scuppered the planned holiday. Speaking of Baghdad, New Delhi's strong stand on the US attack on Iraq did not escape notice here. Observers were startled by the stiff rebuke India delivered, given the nature of the government in power. New Delhi's stand was visibly stronger than even that of its Islamic neighbour Pakistan. The waning of the Clinton Presidency is not something that is escaping Indian attention, although from all indications that is not going to affect the ongoing dialogue.

There is bound to be a certain continuity in Washington's approach particularly if Al Gore succeeds Bill Clinton. Over the last two days, Richard Gephardt, Gore's putative challenger for the Democratic nomination, has also come into hisown with strong support of Clinton and a sparkling legislative performance in Clinton's defence. A member of the India caucus, Gephardt is also someone who bears watching. In contrast, New Delhishould be relieved at the abbreviated speakership of Bob Livingstone, whose voting record in the House stood distinctly against India, according to legislative analysts.