It lacks legitimacy, says Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday wrote another letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to urgently initiate consultations with the States on the constitution, function and powers of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. Only thereafter should the Union Home Ministry's February 3, 2012 order come into force, with necessary modifications, he said.

“I am surprised to have received no response from your office or the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to my letter of February 13, 2012 on this critical matter. I, therefore, request you to urgently initiate the process of consultation with the States,” he said, adding that he had always been with the Centre in fighting terrorism and extremism.

“My primary objection to the NCTC is the high-handed manner in which the government of India has tried to address such an important issue. Prior consultations with the States would have greatly strengthened this process of national security in which our aims are identical,” he said.

Assuring the Prime Minister that he had “no intention of politicising the campaign against terror as had been stated by some Central Ministers and senior officers to the media,” Mr. Patnaik said: “As the Chief Minister of Odisha and a citizen of India, the security of the nation is my prime concern, as I am sure it is of all the Chief Ministers…”