Stepping out after her meeting with the prime minister,West Bengal Chief Minister and UPA ally Mamata Banerjee said the PM had assured her that the controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) would be put on hold till consensus evolved among all states. Significantly, NCTC, mooted by the Centre, was scheduled to be operational by March 1.
Banerjee said: “The PM has assured me that all state concerns will be addressed before NCTC is implemented.”
It was Banerjee who was vocal in her criticism of the Centre, alleging that the NCTC was an attack on the federal structure and an infringement on the powers of the State. Soon, other chief ministers followed suit, demanding that NCTC be repealed. The situation came to such a pass that the prime minister himself wrote to seven chief ministers on Tuesday, assuaging their concerns, and directed the home minister to first consult the states and arrive at a consensus.
The two other major issues that Banerjee raised included the Presidential assent of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) pact and the breach in the Farakka barrage causing excess water to flow into Bangladesh. In Banerjee’s words, it could lead to a “disaster” any time.
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