CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will be attending the meeting of the Chief Ministers on National Counter Terrorism Centre, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi on May 5.
The Chief Minister will be leaving for Delhi on Saturday morning and returning to Chennai the same day. Originally, the discussion on the NCTC was part of the agenda for the CMs’ conference held at Delhi on April 16. However, Jayalalithaa and Chief Ministers of many other States opposed this and demanded a separate meeting on the issue and the Prime Minister acceded to the demand convened a separate meeting on May 5.
It may be recalled that Jayalalithaa has been strongly opposing certain provisions of the NCTC and had said that without the involvement of the State governments, the counter-terrorism mechanism would be a non-starter.
Apart from the discussions on the NCTC, the CM’s visit to Delhi assumes significance in the wake of political parties starting parleys for the forthcoming Presidential election.
During her visit to Delhi on April 16, Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Odisha -- Narendra Modi and Navin Patnaik -- had held discussions with her.