HYDERABAD: Asking the Government to keep implementation of National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in abeyance, BJP today demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh immediately convene a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss the contentious issue threadbare.
"The proposed NCTC must be put on hold for wider consultation notwithstanding the March 1 deadline for launch of the anti-terror intelligence hub. The Prime Minister should call a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss and allay their fears about it," BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said.
"It was an unilateral decision of the Central Government (to set up NCTC)," he told reporters here.
Terrorism poses a threat to the entire country and both the Centre and the states should jointly fight the menace, the former BJP President maintained.
Naidu, who is also Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, said 11 Chief Ministers have demanded the repeal of NCTC, which he said, was notified without taking the State Governments into confidence.
The Home Minister writing a letter to CMs and calling DGPs' meeting for consultation on the subject was not a solution, Naidu said, adding there was a need for a unanimous decision on such a serious and sensitive matter.
"Hasty action" over the anti-terror body by the Congress-led UPA Government would only weaken the unity of the country and set the States and the Centre on a collision course, the former Union Minister warned.
Non-Congress Chief Ministers have opposed NCTC, saying it impinges on the powers of the states.