NEW DELHI: For Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, the Rajya Sabha approval for the constitutional amendment Bill for goods & services tax is as significant politically as it is in terms of economic policy.The Modi government has successfully demonstrated that it can be smartly accommodative and engage with both big and small Opposition parties . It has also showed it has the political nous to push through big, game-changing reforms.And perhaps most important, the signal is that a change in Bharatiya Janata Party ’s strategy is being led by PM himself.The passage of the Bill will also be seen by BJP as validation of the PM changing his parliamentary affairs minister in the recent reshuffle. Ananth Kumar was given parliamentary affairs, M Venkaiah Naidu lost the portfolio.ET spoke to senior members of the council of ministers and BJP for this report. They spoke on the condition they not be identified.A senior BJP leader said after the failure of big reforms such as land acquisition, and several policy-related Bills being referred to parliamentary panels, the PM and the treasury bench had to counter the perception and Opposition critique that legislative logjam was thanks to a “bulldozing” approach by BJP.“There was a perception also that we have lost the appetite for big reform that requires large political consensus, and also that we don’t want to engage with the Opposition,” a senior BJP leader said.“There is a saying in Gujarati that it takes two to clap. One cannot clap with a single hand. All this while the impression was given that the government was not coming forward to take the Opposition along. This development (the GST Bill’s passage) is an outcome of both sides walking towards a common purpose,” said a government functionary.This person said the House nod for GST is a message from the PM to the Opposition that he and his government will walk the extra mile for important policy.Another BJP leader said it’s important to note that the PM asked his key negotiators to speak to smaller parties in the non-National Democratic Alliance bloc.This was an important change in strategy and helped the government in getting its point of view across, this politician said.“GST shows that the relationship between the Modi government and the Opposition, particularly Congress, has improved.It definitely suggests this relationship is better than a year ago,” another government member said. This person said the political message was that the government was ready to adopt a conciliatory approach, that it was not in a rush to take sole credit for big reforms, and that it was prepared to take everyone along on issues of national importance.“The issue is not about credit. The prime minister made it very clear during the all-party meeting ahead of the monsoon session that there was a need to rise above politics for national interest.This is to the credit of everyone,” a minister said, adding, “ultimately the credit will come to our government. But it is not the government’s intention to take credit.” “Credit goes to Congress also...their leaders relented from their unreasonable position,” a finance ministry official said, adding, “I think they realised that their stand is not benefitting the party, and it may be harmful politically.”The change of minister for the parliamentary affairs portfolio that the PM effected is also being seen as a contributory factor. One senior party leader said while Naidu is an “able minister” for the job of parliamentary affairs, he “may have been a bit too combative”. The job requires negotiation skills and someone less combative better fits the role, this minister said, adding that Kumar fitted the bill. With the PM taking the lead in conveying the big political message on GST, the parliamentary affairs minister needed to do his job skillfully but quietly, and that’s what Kumar did, this minister said.