Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee ``obviously have an interest in hearing from the main major players,'' including Starr since his report led to Thursday's vote to hold hearings, the source told AFP.

The 15 impeachable acts that Clinton is accused of committing turned up during Starr's eight-month probe into whether the President broke the law in concealing an affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Stressing that no such decision on whether to call Starr had yet been made, the official said Democrats might also call the ex-White House intern and her confidant and betrayer Linda Tripp.

The official's comments came as Republicans who control the House of Representatives panel met on Friday to plan strategy and procedure in what is just the third impeachment inquiry in US history.

The House voted258 to 176 on Thursday to open the hearings. No United States President has ever been impeached and then removed from office by the Senate.

Clinton's advisors prepared on Friday for talks next week with lawmakers on how the impeachment hearings will be conducted.

Republican Henry Hyde, the panel's chair, has said the President whose lawyers can attend all committee hearings -- would be `welcome' to testify, but that he would not call Clinton to do so.

The official reiterated Democratic charges that Republicans will stall the probe until after the November 3 elections in hopes of bleeding support from Clinton's party.

Hyde sought to defuse those charges by stressing on Thursday that his full committee would not act before that vote.

But that ``just shows how serious the allegations must be if we do nothing for one month while people campaign,'' Robert Scott, the top Democrat on the panel's subcommittee on the constitution, told AFP.

Scott said his subcommittee's October 22 hearing couldyield a definition of what constitutes an impeachable offence, a step Democrats have insisted is crucial to proceedings.

India caucus membership exceeds 100

The strength of Congressional caucus for India and Indian-Americans has increased significantly and would work on immigration, economic sanctions and Indo-US ties, the next Democratic co-chairman of the caucus, Gary Ackerman of New York, revealed today.

Ackerman, who was elected yesterday, said he wants to expand the caucus further, which now has more than 100 members of the House of representatives, and draw on the additional strengths of its existing members.

Ackerman replaces co-chairman Frank Pallone, Democratic Congressman from New Jersey.