Centre casual, contemptuous: Jayalalithaa

Chennai: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday went hammer and tongs against the Union Home Ministry headed by P Chidambaram for treating the Tamil Nadu government with absolute disdain over the formation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

Delivering her hard-hitting speech at the conference of Chief Ministers on the NCTC, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at New Delhi, Jayalalithaa took strong exception to the casual attitude displayed by the Union Home Ministry in not sending the copy of the order on the formation of NCTC.

"It was Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikji, who shared his copy with me," she added.

Jayalalithaa has said that actions show that the Home Ministry has no knowledge of practical administration.

The action of the Home Ministry revealed the utter contempt it has for Tamil Nadu, she said, taking a dig at Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Referring to the remark that her Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi made during the CMs' meet on April 16 regarding the growing distrust between the Centre and States due to certain actions by certain ministries, Jayalalithaa said the NCTC was one such initiative.

On the proposal for creating a quick response Operations Wing of the Intelligence Bureau, she asked, "Does the Ministry of Home Affairs feel that their officials are more capable and more virtuous than police personnel in the States? Does it feel that the Intelligence Bureau is more trustworthy than the Research and Analysis Wing or the Directorate General of Military Intelligence? Does it feel that State Governments cannot be trusted with certain confidential information? This feeling of distrust has to be dispelled."

Jayalalithaa said the state police themselves collect a lot of intelligence and act immediately. She said it was not necessary for the State police to take directions from a Central agency before taking action against an unlawful agency to prevent terrorist activity.

"If the Ministry of Home Affairs desires that in response to terrorist activities, any action should be taken only after receiving their directions then, I am afraid I can only say that they have no knowledge of practical administration," she observed.

Advising the Centre to set its own house in order rather than advising the States on principles of administration, Jayalalithaa said Chief Ministers of States have their feet firmly on the ground and do not keep holding press conferences after a terrorist attack explaining the reasons for their failure.

"We are proactive and prevent such occurrences. Instead of encouraging us and providing liberal financial assistance, the Ministry of Home Affairs wants to belittle us and treat us like pawns on a chessboard, who can be moved around at will," she said. This was not only a counter-productive idea but also seriously violative of the Constitution, she charged.

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