Breakthrough in sight? PM Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi meet to discuss GST, pending bills

Hopes of a thaw on the GST bill emerged tonight with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaching out to the Congress leadership, which will discuss within the party the government's response to its three objections on the measure. The government will establish "fresh contact" with the Congress once the party completes its internal discussion on the three issues of "their concerns" on which they made their position clear, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after Modi met his predecessor Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

This is the first direct outreach by Modi to the principal opposition ever since he came to power last year in a bid to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament in the winter session. Modi had invited Singh and Gandhi for a tea at his residence where the discussions covered issues pending before Parliament, particularly the large number of bills that have accumulated over the past two sessions.