Election Results 2014: Barack Obama Congratulates Narendra Modi, Invites Him to U.S.

WASHINGTON: In the end it just took a phone call from President Barack Obama to Narendra Modi with an invitation to visit Washington to reset a U.S. policy that had shunned India's next prime minister for over a decade.

Obama's invitation to Modi "to visit Washington at a mutually agreeable time to further strengthen our bilateral relationship" was given as part of a congratulatory call for the "Bharatiya Janata Party's success in India's historic election."

"The President noted he looks forward to working closely with Modi to fulfill the extraordinary promise of the U.S.-India strategic partnership, and they agreed to continue expanding and deepening the wide-ranging cooperation between the two democracies," the White House said in a readout of the call.

The White House made no reference to the 2005 revocation of Modi's visa for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots during his tenure as the state chief minister - a tricky issue that threatened to cloud India-U.S. ties in his new role.

After cussedly playing cagey on the visa issue, the State Department also finally acknowledged that Modi's impending elevation as India's leader had turned the knotty matter into a non-issue.

"The Prime Minister of India will be welcomed to the United States. As Head of Government, Mr. Modi would be eligible for an A-1 visa," the department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Earlier, White House press secretary Jay Carney also declared that the "Prime Minister of India will receive a visa to travel to the United States" and the U.S. looked "forward to working with the new government and the new Prime Minister."

"I don't anticipate any problem in that regard," he added.