NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (PTI): Breaking his silence over stiff opposition to his pet project NCTC, Home Minister P Chidambaram today wrote to 10 non-Congress Chief Ministers, saying countering terrorism is a shared responsibility and Centre will continue to work with States to fight the menace.
In identical letters to the Chief Ministers, including West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Chidambaram said the Union Home Secretary would convene a meeting of the police chiefs of all States to discuss in detail the scope and functions of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, whose setting up was strongly opposed by them.
"All of us are agreed that terrorism is a grave threat to our country and our way of life. Countering terrorism is, therefore, a shared responsibility," he said in his letter to Chief Ministers of Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura.
The Home Minister's letter came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked him to address the concerns of the Chief Ministers who lodged strong protests complaining that the Central government was going to set up the NCTC without any consultation with the State governments. Some of them also complained that the anti-terror body will hurt the country's federal structure and infringe on powers of the State government.
