Mamata urges PM to put NCTC decision on hold

 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded that the move to set up the National Counter Terrorism Centre should not be implemented till there is consensus on the issue between the central government and states.

Banerjee, who met Manmohan Singh here, later told media persons that she had been assured that the proposed NCTC will not become operational till consultations with the states were completed.

“Assured me,” Banerjeee said when asked if she had got a word from the prime minister that the proposed anti-terror intelligence hub will become functional after consultations with the states were completed.

She said she had told the prime minister that NCTC, in its present form, will disturb the federal structure.

“In the name of NCTC, they can arrest anybody, interrogate any business... requisition police from any station. It is contradictory to the federal structure,” Banerjee said.
She said the prime minister told him that he had instructed Home Minister P. Chidambaram to consult the states.

Banerjee also raised the issues of Teesta water treaty with Bangladesh and tripartite agreement of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) with the prime minister.
Apart from Banerjee, the NCTC proposal is being opposed by chief ministers of Odisha, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.