Natwar Singh, tipped by some to be India's new foreign minister, praised in a television interview late Saturday the foreign policies of the outgoing Hindu nationalist administration.

But he warned that while the new coalition would maintain friendly relations with Washington, it would not be as close as the outgoing administration and had sharp differences over some of its policies, especially with regard to Iraq.

"We are the world's largest democracy and they are the world's most powerful democracy, so we are natural allies," Singh told Sab TV, excerpts of which were published Sunday in the Hindustan Times newspaper.

But he added that Washington would have to accept that India also disagreed on some issues.

"We don't agree with their policy on Iraq," Singh said, adding that had Congress been in government, it would have officially criticised the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Congress, in its pre-poll manifesto, blasted the outgoing government on India's relations with the United States.

"Sadly, a great country like India has been reduced to having a subordinate relationship with the United States where the US takes India for granted," the party's "vision document" on foreign policy said.

During the nearly 45 years of previous Congress rule, India, which led the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, had tilted towards the Soviet Union.

Russia remains India's largest military and political ally, but recently relations with the United States have also gained significant momentum, especially on the economic front.

On the peace process with Pakistan, Singh said Congress had long called on the Vajpayee government to begin talks with Islamabad.

"... as far as we are concerned, we are willing to discuss everything from the nuclear issue to Kashmir," he said.

"We will urge Pakistan to look at the example of our relations with China," he added. "Even though we have a border dispute with them, we have moved ahead in cooperation in other areas.

India and Pakistan -- due in part to repeated initiatives taken by Vajpayee -- are currently engaged in peace talks after years of tension which led the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war.

The communists, however, have claimed that Vajpayee was pressured by the United States into beginning the latest peace initiative.

Congress won 145 seats in parliamentary elections which ended last Monday and with the support of pre-election allies and the communists comfortably crosses the 272-seat mark to form a stable government.