A day after non-Congress chief ministers and an ally attacked the centre over NCTC, home minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday lamented the "mistrust" harboured by some states and expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved in the May 5 meeting.

Answering criticism that the centre was making inroads into states' powers, he said the centre would "step back" for every step taken by the state governments in fighting terror, Maoists and accept responsibility for border management.

Responding to questions at a press conference where he was asked about the attack on the centre by some chief ministers at the conference on internal security on Monday, Chidambaram said after five conference, it is a matter of deep regret that there is still some suspicion of the Central government.

"It is unfortunate that some states harbour mistrust against the Central government...The central government is willing to step back, if a state or states willing to accept more responsibility," he said.

At the conference yesterday, non-Congress chief ministers J Jayalalitha, Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik and Mamata Banerjee were sharply critical of the proposal on NCTC and other legislations that were viewed by them as encroaching on states' policing powers.

Jayalalitha, Modi and Patnaik met separately after the conference and are understood to have discussed the strategy to oppose the NCTC at the May 5 meeting which has been convened specially to discuss the issue.