Mamata Banerjee writes to PM on NCTC issue

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to focus only on the National Counter Terrorism Centre ( NCTC) issue at the meeting of chief ministers in New Delhi next month.

"I have received a letter from the Union Home Ministry about the conference of chief ministers on April 16. But NCTC is just one of the 10 items on the agenda. In such a meeting, the focus of the NCTC will be lost," Banerjee wrote sources close to the chief minister said here.

"NCTC is a very sensitive issue. It should be the only matter of discussion at the meeting so that all states can express their views properly and adequate interaction can take place. Other issues can be discussed subsequently," she said.

Yesterday Banerjee had warned the Centre not to interfere in matters which were the preserve of states. "It is not good to impose or bulldoze in a federal structure," she had said.

Banerjee had also said that at her last meeting with the Prime Minister she had requested him not to go forward with the NCTC without consulting with and consensus among states.