DHARAMSHALA, India -- The Dalai Lama held talks with radical Tibetan exiles on Wednesday, his aides said, a day after the spiritual leader threatened to resign if violence in his homeland worsened.

The meeting with the Tibetan Youth Congress and other high-profile pressure groups came as he faced an intensifying challenge to his position as leader of the exiles' movement, based in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala.

The pro-independence Tibetan Youth Congress has called for a review of the 72-year-old Dalai Lama's "Middle Way" policy, which espouses non-violence and autonomy within China rather than independence.

In contrast to the Dalai Lama, the group has also called for an international boycott of the Beijing Olympics in August.

A close aide to the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Taklha, told Agence France-Presse a meeting with Tibetan Youth Congress leader Tsewang Rigzin and a handful of other radicals had taken place, but no details were immediately available.

Another source in the exiled Tibetan administration said the "friendly meeting" lasted 20 minutes, but also gave no details.

On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama called for calm and better relations with Beijing, and said he would step aside if violence in Tibet intensified.
"If things are getting out of control, then the option is to completely resign," he told reporters.