Jaya shoots letter to PM; opposes NCTC

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalaithaa on Friday shot a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating her opposition to the setting up of anti-terror body National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

Several Chief Ministers, including Jayalalithaa, had earlier raised objections to the Centre's plan of setting up National Counter Terrorism Centres (NCTCs) to combat terror, a move that the states feel will overstep on their administration ambit.

In her letter to the Prime Minister, Jayalalithaa said: "I learn from reliable sources that there is a renewed move to set up the NCTC under the Home Ministry.

"I am sure that you will recall the views expressed by several chief ministers, including myself, against the NCTC emerging as a single point of control for counter terrorist measures, at the special conference convened for this purpose, under your chairmanship in May 2012."

"The proposal for the setting up of a single point of control under the Home Ministry for all anti-terrorist measures was objected to by almost all the state chief ministers. Coordination and not control was considered to be the right way forward," she said.

"For this, the present system of a multi-agency centre at Delhi interacting with the subsidiary multi-agency centres at the level of the states was considered to be working well," the Chief Minister wrote in her letter.

She said: "Action in the form of counter terrorist operations is better left to the state police to perform. For this, a Rapid Action Counter Terrorist Force should be created in every state, to function under the nodal state agency."

Jayalalithaa wrote to Singh a day after she walked out of a meeting of all chief ministers at the annual National Development Council (NDC) on Thursday when she was stopped from delivering her speech in full owing to time limits of ten minutes set for each CM.

The meeting was presided over by the Prime Minister.

The Tamil Nadu CM left in a huff saying she was insulted since it is impossible to express everything in ten minutes in the interest of her state and the country at large.

Jayalalithaa said the voices of the chief ministers are being stifled by the centre.