Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the security of the country was a shared responsibility of the Central and state governments. Speaking at the inauguration of an NSG hub at Badu, about 50 kms from Kolkata, he said the Constitution of India assigned law and order to the state government and also assigned the Centre to protect the country against external aggression or internal disturbance.

He said he had a responsibility to work with the states to quell terror, any militancy or rebellion. He said the Centre did not discriminate between states on the basis of political parties that ruled governments there.

Chidambaram said the Centre worked with the previous government in West Bengal and it was happy to work with the new government. Reaching out to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said the situation in Junglemahal created by the Naxalites had been substantially controlled by the new government and the overall situation of the state has considerably improved.

The Home Minister's comments assume significance in the backdrop of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joining over half-a-dozen Chief Ministers of non-Congress-ruled states in opposing the Centre's plan to create a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC). Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress, is the second largest ally of the UPA Government.