FM Arun Jaitley invites Rahul Gandhi for daughter's wedding, meet sets off GST buzz

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, triggering speculation as the interaction comes just a week before the start of the winter session of Parliament.

Congress sources said no politics was discussed in the meeting and Jaitley had merely come to invite Rahul for his daughter's wedding scheduled in December.

While the minister has been meeting leaders across party lines to extend the invitation, the visit to Rahul's residence was expected to trigger speculation given the vexed GST bill that the Centre is keen to pass in the upcoming session.

Jaitley had recently said he is ready to talk to Rahul to discuss the GST issue. The big-ticket tax reform has run into a wall with Congress which has submitted a clutch of amendments to the government draft.

Congress has made it clear that while meetings with the Gandhis are welcome, the government would have to thrash out the GST with its leaders in Parliament - Mallikarjuna Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad - as also former finance minister P Chidambaram who is not a member of Parliament.