New Delhi:
All non-Congress chief ministers, barring Mamata Banerjee, who had come together to oppose the Centre on the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and other issues, attended today's Chief Ministers' conference on internal security called by the government.
Strengthening of counter terror capabilities and intelligence apparatus, Maoist violence, police reforms and capacity building were high on agenda at the meeting inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The central government has already conceded the demand of several non-Congress chief ministers, including ally Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, to hold a special meeting of chief ministers to exclusively discuss on the controversial issue of NCTC on May 5.
Ms Banerjee's government was represented by Finance Minister Amit Mitra. However, she will take part in the Chief Ministers' meeting on NCTC.
No reason was assigned for the West Bengal Chief Minister's decision.
The conference was also be attended by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik, Bihar's Nitish Kumar and their Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi who have been vocal in their opposition to the NCTC.
Apart from the nine NDA Chief Ministers, Uttar Pradesh's Akhilesh Yadav and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah were among those present at the meet that deliberate on how India is being affected due to its troubled neighbourhood and its obvious consequences in the country like cross border terrorism, covert support to insurgents, arms smuggling, circulation of fake Indian currency, inflow of refugees and immigration.
The conference, originally scheduled for February 15, had to be postponed for two months due to the recent Assembly elections in five states and Budget Session of Parliament.