Ahead of the crucial centre-states meet on National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) on May 5, where sparks are expected to fly with the non-congress chief ministers strategising to take on the union home minister, the tone was set at the chief minister’s meeting on inrernal security in the capital on Monday.

A number of non-congress chief ministers including those of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat, attacked the centre for encroaching on state’s domain.  Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar led the charge, accusing the centre of violation of the structures of federalism. “The core issue is violation of the principle of federalism and the only level at which meaningful discussion could be held is between heads of government at the centre and states,” he said attacking the centre’s proclivity towards engaging the state’s bureaucrats directly.  

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha said the centre was making repeated attempts at interfering with the powers of the state government.

"Constant attempts have been made to reduce states to the level of glorified municipal corporation heavily dependent on the Centre for funds," she said. The centre should stop intimidating and browbeating states through top down structure, she added.

Speaking against the NCTC, Jayalalithaa said, "The RPF Act, the NCTC are all attempts to encroach on state powers by establishing parallel authorities."

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi also took on the Centre on the issue of NCTC. "NCTC is creating distrust between the Centre and the State, which will impact internal security," Modi said.

Modi also slammed the centre for its mishandling of the recent controversy surrounding the army. "It is unfortunate that the present Union Government has failed to instill faith and confidence about our defence preparedness in the common man," he said.

The Chief Ministers' conference on internal security began on Monday in Delhi. In the opening speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the issue of internal security remains a big challenge in which the states and the Centre must work together and in harmony.