NCTC only after discussions with CMs: Shinde

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday made it clear that the controversial National Counterterrorism Center would be set up only after thorough discussions with chief ministers who are opposing it.

"Yes, I am going into details. I would like to discuss with the states, with the Chief Ministers. This is a good move but we have to discuss with the chief ministers," he said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Facing strong opposition from Chief Ministers like Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), the Home Ministry has revised the plan for the NCTC, a pet project of former Home Minister P Chidambaram.

According to the new plan, the NCTC will be kept out of the ambit of the Intelligence Bureau and will be an independent entity directly reporting to the home ministry.

Besides, the anti-terror body will conduct operations on its own only if there is urgency or in rare cases.

An earlier meeting of chief ministers had failed to evolve a consensus on NCTC due to which it was pushed to the backburner.

According to the earlier proposal, the Multi-Agency Centre and the operations wing of the Intelligence Bureau were earmarked for the NCTC and the home ministry had passed an ordinance making the new anti-terror body a nodal organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.