BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik upped the ante against the Centre on the issue of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) saying that the States will not tolerate the ‘draconian’ and ‘authoritarian’ order on its power and function. “We have taken it up very seriously as the order clearly infringes on the federal rights of the States and the people. The Centre must withdraw its February 3 order on NCTC,” Naveen told mediapersons here on Friday. He also questioned as to why the States were bypassed and kept in the dark over the issue. The chief ministers of several other States have also expressed their strong resentment over the move by the Centre. Asked about the next step, Naveen said that the chief ministers would consult among themselves to take a decision on the matter. Naveen said he is yet to receive any acknowledgement to the letter he sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 13 on the issue. “They (Centre) have neither spoken to me over phone nor sent any letter in this regard,” he said. The Centre, in its February 3 order, has empowered the newly-constituted NCTC under the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to arrest and search suspects under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) without even consulting the State governments, he said. “When Union Home Minister P Chidambaram often says that security and police are State responsibilities, how come his ministry issues such an order where States are bypassed and kept in dark,” Naveen asked. Stating that he had spoken to the chief ministers of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu on the issue, Naveen said he understood from the media that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had also opposed it. “As the February 3 NCTC order has draconian overtone, we have been opposing it,” Naveen said, while replying to a question on whether he was raising the NCTC issue to regain his image. The voice raised against the NCTC order was to retain the federal rights of the States bestowed by the Constitution, he said.
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