The Centre has decided to bring the proposed anti-terror body National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) again at the Chief Ministers’ conference to be held on June 5.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday said that there were some apprehensions among the states over the NCTC and the Centre was ready to discuss and clarify them.
He said that the draft of the proposal with changes would be placed before the chief ministers’ conference for discussion.
Shinde said: “Since we have removed the operational power from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), there should not be any more apprehension from anyone.”
Most of the non-Congress Chief Ministers like Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu) and Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) have opposed the original proposal of NCTC saying it would infringe the states’ power and hurt the federal structure of the country.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs had asked the Centre to keep the decision of setting up NCTC in abeyance till all state governments and political parties come on board.
Addressing his monthly press conference, Shinde said that besides NCTC, issues such as internal security, protection of women and other issues would be discussed at the meeting of the Chief Ministers.
Dismissing the BJP’s allegations that the CBI was working at the behest of the Congress to implicate its members, the Home Minister said that such comments always come when the main opposition party faced any difficulty. Shinde also rejected the BJP’s allegation of chargesheeting party leader in Sohrabuddin case was a well planned conspiracy.
On Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy’s chargesheet issue, Shinde said that it was for the state leaders to decide on the issue.
However, admitting that there was an agitation for separate Telangana state, Home Minister said that government had noted it.
When asked about the speculation over returning to Maharashtra as Chief Minister, Shinde said that no one spoke to him about it. But, he said, he was proud to be a Maharashtrian.
