A spokesman for the US Embassy in New Delhi confirmed that the embassy had reached out to Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party some time ago and that a meeting would take place. The spokesman, Peter Vrooman, described the invitation to meet with Ambassador Nancy J. Powell as "part of our concentrated outreach to senior political and economic leaders, which began in November, to highlight the US-India relationship."
Nirmala Sitharaman, a Bharatiya Janata Party spokeswoman, said on Tuesday that there had been "an approach from the US ambassador's office seeking an appointment with the chief minister of Gujarat." She was referring to Mr Modi's present post.
"By this evening, we will have information on when that is going to happen," Ms Sitharaman added.
With anti-incumbent sentiment strong in India, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party looks poised to make major gains in the parliamentary elections set for May, and Mr Modi, a charismatic speaker who is drawing large crowds to his rallies, stands a good chance of becoming prime minister.
This poses a challenge for the United States and other Western countries that signalled disapproval of Mr Modi's handling of the riots in 2002, which left at least 1,000 people dead in Gujarat, most of them Muslims. Mr Modi's culpability is a matter of dispute among Indians. In December, a court rejected a petition to prosecute him, saying there was insufficient evidence. (Read)
Britain ended a 10-year diplomatic boycott of Narendra Modi in October when its high commissioner met with him for 50 minutes. Mr Modi also met with a group of ambassadors from the European Union.
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, foreign editor for the Hindustan Times, said Mr Modi's camp responded coolly to a previous overture from the US side, declining an invitation to attend a function with Powell in New Delhi and signalling that it expected a visit in Gujarat. The planned meeting was further delayed by the controversy over the December arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, but her return to India cleared the way to proceed.
Mr Modi has been tight-lipped about the US visa ban, leaving it unclear whether it will colour the bilateral relationship should he become prime minister. Mr Chaudhuri said some Modi advisers have pushed for retaliatory steps, "even symbolic, to indicate his displeasure with the US or with Obama himself," but he also has robust support from Indians in the United States, who do not wish to see the relationship fray.
"He is a political animal, and most politicians know that holding grudges is not a way to get very far," he said. "Modi has indicated nothing in either direction."
For more than a decade, Indians have debated whether Narendra Modi could have slowed or stopped the riots, which began when Muslims set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims. In the days after the attack, riots rippled across the state, fed by a strike called by Hindu groups and encouraged by some of Mr Modi's associates. Mr Modi has denied any culpability.
"Truth alone triumphs," he wrote on Twitter, after the court decision in December.
In recent years, Narendra Modi has met with US consular officials but not with an official of Ms Powell's rank.
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