PM Modi invites Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh for meeting, rahul gandhi

BJP strategists and political analysts say the government’s strategy is to isolate the Congress while quietly persuading other parties to back the GST Bill, a crucial reforms legislation which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the foreign investors to be a reality in 2016. The meeting, which lasted about an hour, was termed a “good beginning” by the government even though it may not have resulted in a breakthrough on the GST Bill deadlock.

After the meeting, Jaitley told reporters the two sides had put across their views on all the contentious issues – the Congress had said it had three basic objections to the GST Bill – and, after the Congress leaders discussed the issue within the party, the two sides would probably meet again.

Three concerns raised by Congress are, one per cent additional tax as goods move across states, the constitutional cap of 18 per cent and an independent dispute redressal mechanism.

Azad said that in the all-party meeting convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, he confronted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with his two reported statements on the issue of Congress stand on the GST.

That the ice has been broken between the NDA government and the Congress was evident when AICC spokesman Anand Sharma described the 45-minute meeting as “constructive” and the Opposition party would hold “internal discussions” on the issue.

Some states ruled by regional parties, including Bihar where Modi’s BJP lost badly in an election this month, have assured their support for the Bill but analysts doubt that tempers can cool quickly enough for progress to be made.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a television interview on Wednesday that these three Congress demands had not been included in its original GST bill. “They are doing it under pressure”, he quipped, when asked about the Prime Minister’s invite for the Congress president and former PM.

“The PM has not called a single leader of the Congress party for discussion”, the party’s deputy leader, Rahul Gandhi, said in a speech to students in Bangalore.

On the GST bill, Gandhi said the Congress has some differences with the government.

Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor said he was hopeful a consensus will now be reached with the government.

“India can’t have a GST with a flawed make-up, for once the Constitution is amended, it will take decades before one can correct the flaw”, said Jaitley.

Modi’s meeting with Manmohan and Sonia is significant as the government and the Congress are at loggerheads over the passage of crucial legislations and Congress blocking the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha. “Each of us want that there is tolerance in the country for peace and development and investment to come”, he said.