Delete NCTC from president's speech, says Trinamool
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded that the reference to the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) be deleted from President Pratibha Patil's speech to parliament.
The NCTC was incorporated in the president's address to parliament on Monday despite objections and requests from various states, the Trinamool, a key ally of the United Progressive Alliance, said.
"Therefore we have to put an objection and we are seeking an amendment, these words should be deleted," Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee told news channel NDTV 24x7.
"We are very firm, our party is very firm our leader has thought over the matter it has been discussed within the party," he added.
Bharatiya Janata Party's leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj also said that as many 10 states were against the anti-terror hub it as it encroached upon the rights of states.
Non-Congress states have been trying to forge a common ground to oppose NCTC -- Home Minister P. Chidambaram's project for a centralised agency to maintain data of terror modules, terrorists, their associates, friends, families and supporters.
The agency has the legal authority to make arrests and conduct search operations in terror-related cases while keeping state police concerned into the loop. It derives its powers from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Chidambaram has said the government was ready to debate it in the light of opposition from many states.
"I am clear that NCTC is an absolute necessity to fight terrorism... Those who oppose certain aspects of it also agree on the idea," he told the Lok Sabha.
"NCTC does not violate the federal structure," he added.
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