Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow to personally invite him to his daughter Sonali's wedding.
Though there was an instantaneous buzz in Delhi media circles about the exact nature of the visit, insiders confirm that the meeting was in fact just a courtesy visit on Jaitley's part.
Reports says that the Jaitley family has been debating whether they should invite santoor maestro Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma or rapper Mika to perform at the wedding. The family is still undecided.
Meanwhile, as the winter session of Parliament is set to open on November 26, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress-led opposition have taken their positions on the bill.
Sources tell us that a compromise formula has been found with Jaitley likely to meet Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the presence of Dr Manmohan Singh and Anand Sharma before Parliament actually begins.
Jaitley has been meeting leaders of parties in recent days to extend invitation for his daughter’s wedding next month.
He has repeatedly said in the last few days that he would reach out to Congress and Gandhi to seek his help to clear the Goods and Services Tax Bill, the government’s big reform measure that is stuck in Parliament on stiff opposition from the Congress.
The BJP government is confident that the GST Bill will be passed in the winter session, and the confidence apparently stems from Jaitley reaching out to the opposition with a wedding card diplomacy.
