NCTC: Naveen waiting for Centre's next step

Bhubaneswar: A day after receiving a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the NCTC, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state government was now waiting for the Centre’s next step for consultation.[caption id=“attachment_221746” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Image courtesy PIB”]  [/caption] “The prime minister has stated clearly that the chief ministers who had written to him showing anxiety and concern over the NCTC would be consulted and the home minister would be in touch with us,” Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneswar. “Let us wait for the next step of the Central government, response of the Home Minister, he said. Stating that he received the prime minister’s letter on Tuesday, Patnaik said that like every chief minister and citizen of the nation, he was also concerned about the country’s security and menace of terrorism and extremism. The chief ministers of at least 13 states, including West Bengal headed by UPA ally Trinamool Congress, have voiced concerns about the formation of the body, which they claimed would usurp the states’ powers and disturb federal structure. In identical letters to seven chief ministers who had written to him on this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday assured them that states’ powers would not be affected and Home Minister P Chidambaram would talk to them. PTI