New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today tried to reach out to Chief Ministers of all states on the contentious issue of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
But at a meeting convened in New Delhi, Chief Ministers of the non-Congress states hit out at the government. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa accused the Centre of reducing states to municipalities.
In what could spell a new headache for the Congress, she also separately met with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Here are the ten biggest developments of the day:
1) The Prime Minister, while inaugurating the meeting, said, "Serious internal security challenges remain. Threats from terrorism, left wing extremism, religious fundamentalism, and ethnic violence persist in our country. These challenges demand constant vigilance on our part. They need to be tackled firmly but with sensitivity." He added, "Internal security is a matter in which the States and the Centre must work together, hand in hand, and in harmony."
2) The NCTC is a pet project of Home Minister P Chidambaram, who has passionately advocated the need for the anti-terror organisation. He kick-started today's meeting with an opening address that, apart from an overview of the security situation in the state, includes an assurance to states that there is no conflict between them and the Union government. "One half of the cases were solved by the joint efforts of Centre and states. On the operational level, there is no conflict between central and state agencies."
3) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to skip today's meet. Ms Banerjee sent her Finance Minister, Amit Mitra, for the meeting and reiterated, "The proposed anti-terror body upsets the federal structure." Lest her views on internal security be missed, the Trinamool Chief also said, "Left Wing extremism has serious implications on national security."
4) On the sidelines of the internal security meeting, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik trooped-in to meet Ms Jayalalithaa at the Tamil Nadu Bhawan.Mr Patnaik was the first to meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the two were closeted for over 25 minutes. Soon after, Mr Modi met Ms Jayalalithaa for about 40 minutes.
5) Sukhbir Singh Badal, the deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, who was also scheduled to meet Ms Jayalalithaa, did not finally turn up.
6) Earlier, at the Chief Ministers' meet, Ms Jayalalithaa accused the Central government of bringing the states down to the level of glorified municipal corporations by restricting their operational magnitude, tightening finances and encroaching upon states' powers. "This attitude is disturbing and the implication of such exercises is not conducive to either state or national growth," she said.
7) Mr Narendra Modi criticised the Centre for its "non-consultative" approach with state governments on key security issues. He said the Centre was creating a "state within a state" by amending RPF Act, BSF Act which take away powers from state police and meddling with subjects under the state list.
8) His Madhya Pradesh counterpart, and party colleague, Shivraj Singh Chouhan echoed similar sentiments and said, "In the fight against terrorism, the Central government always talks of shared responsibilities but repeatedly resorts to unilateral actions."
9) In his speech today, a copy of which was circulated, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has made clear that the NCTC is all-important and that states must be consulted on important decisions. "The discussion on NCTC has been delayed dangerously. As you know we have had a crisis involving the abduction of an MLA and two Italian nationals by left-wing extremists and this delay will only further aggravate such problems," he said.
10) A separate meeting of chief ministers on NCTC is scheduled on May 5, at the instance of Chief Minister's like Tamil Nadu's J Jayalalithaa and West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, who will attend that meeting.