The Centre in New Delhi might reach out to opposition parties, especially the Congress, in a bid to get the delayed Goods and Service Tax Bill moving again. On Monday, government officials suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is considering looking into the seven issues the Congress has raised. Senior BJP leaders including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu are expected to meet on Tuesday and finalise on the details of the Bill ahead of the Parliament’s winter session, which begins on Thursday.

The GST Bill has caused the BJP a lot of trouble. While the party is unlikely to meet all of Congress’ demands, it might accede to some of them so as to gain their support and ensure the Bill passes through the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP does not have a majority. The Centre also suggested that it supports a moderate GST rate that would be acceptable across political parties. On Monday, Minister of State for Finance Jayanta Sinha told LiveMint.com, “We are in continuous consultation with our colleagues in the opposition. We are trying to talk with them about all the aspects of GST... So we all recognize how important this is for the economy, for all of India; so we are in continuous discussion to see what we can do to get it passed in the winter session.”