Hooda takes a potshot at Modi

Taking a dig at his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi on the issue of the National Counter Terrorism Centre e (NCTC), Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Wednesday said national security should not be subjected to a "partisan approach".

Supporting the central government's move to set up the NCTC, Hooda speaking at the Chief Ministers' Conference on internal security here, Hooda said: "I wish my friend Mr Narendra Modi had appreciated this; because national security cannot and should not be a subject matter of partisan approach."

Modi was sitting close to him when Hooda made the remark.

Urging states to unanimously support the NCTC, Hooda said this was a "strategic instrument of our national effort to defeat terrorism. It is reflective of our commitment to safeguard and protect our country".

"The revised draft of the MHA (ministry of home affairs) on NCTC has taken care of the concerns and the apprehensions of the states and envisages the states as equal functional partners in the battle against terrorism," Hooda said.