Alleging that the National Counter Terrorism Center is not on the lines promised by the UPA government in the wake of 26/11, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday demanded that a meeting of the Inter-State Council be called to discuss the matter instead of forming it through an executive order.

The opposition party also asserted that since law and order is a state subject, the government should keep the states in the loop in the functioning of the NCTC. Not doing so — as envisaged in the proposed NCTC— is a breach of the federal structure, it alleged.

“In November 2009, Home Minister P. Chidambaram had said NCTC would be an over-arching body bringing better coordination, synergy and dynamism among the various agencies such as RAW, IB, NIA and NSG. Presently, as things stand the NCTC is reduced to be yet another agency under IB,” BJP spokesperson Jagat Prakash Nadda said.

Nine chief ministers, including West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee and her Tamil Nadu counterpart J. Jayalalithaa, have opposed NCTC on the grounds that it is against federalism.

“In setting up NCTC without consultation, usurping what is necessarily in the States’ domain, the UPA has clearly attacked the basic federal structure of our Constitution. No wonder the States are standing up against it,” Nadda said.

The BJP demanded that a meeting of the Inter-State Council be called to discuss this matter immediately. The opposition accused the UPA of playing vote bank politics by arrogating powers to itself without any concern for the States.