Government agrees to two of three demands put forward by Congress on GST, Jaitley says more meetings likely

In what could possibly thaw the ice between the Centre and Opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the Goods and Services Tax Bill.

According to sources, consensus was reached during the meeting on two of three demands put forward by the Congress party.

Sources told CNN-IBN that the government has indicated that it may agree to the 18% limit on GST. The government is also likely to agree to waive off 1% levy for manufacturing states.

However, one bone of contention continues to remain on the issue. The government is unlikely to accept a demand by the Congress to change the composition and state quota in the GST council.

The meeting over tea at Modi's official residence 7 Race Course Road in New Delhi began at 7 PM on Friday and lasted for over an hour.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was present at the meeting along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, said that both sides put forward their positions on GST and there is the possibility of more meetings in the future. Jaitley added that the leaders also discussed the smooth functioning of Parliament in the Winter Session during the meeting.

The government will now discuss the demands made by Congress which in turn will have its own internal discussions on what the government has said. There will be regular meetings between Naidu and Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad in both houses throughout the Winter Session of Parliament.