Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Tuesday agreed to convene a separate meeting to address the concerns expressed by the chief ministers of various states, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, over the formation of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
According to reports, the Prime Minister also agreed that no decision in this regard would be taken before the scheduled meeting of the chief ministers on May 05.
Consequently, the decision on allowing Foreign Direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector will also be taken after consultation with the chief ministers on May 5.
The TMC chief had earlier demanded that a separate meeting of the CMs should be called to exclusively focus on the contentious issue of the jurisdiction of the NCTC
Banerjee, who played a key role in mobilising the opposition of state governments to the powers Centre wants to confer on NCTC, had earlier written to the Prime Minister that the meeting's agenda should be restricted to the reservations of the state about what has been conceived as the chief counter-terror mechanism.
Banerjee justified the demand saying that the CMs should have adequate time to discuss the controversial order of the Union Home Ministry regarding NCTC.
She had also dubbed the NCTC as worse than POTA and TADA
Besides Mamata, chief ministers of Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha and other states have also opposed the formation of NCTC and written to the Prime Minister.
First Published: Tuesday, April 03, 2012, 15:48