P Chidambaram makes strong pitch for National Counter Terrorism Centre after Chennai bomb blasts

Concerned over the twin bomb explosions in a train in Chennai, finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday made a strong pitch for NCTC, saying the mechanism would have helped plug loopholes in coordination.

Chidambaram, who as home minister had pushed hard for National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which could not see the light of the day due to reservations by non-Congress ruled states, said, "I can not genuinely claim that NCTC would have avoided every blast.

"But NCTC would have reached the source of the extremists and bomb-makers," he said, insisting that the body could have helped nab many specialists in bomb making, extremists and sleeping cells of extremists and bomb-makers.

The finance minister was of the view that uncoordinated actions of the state governments, which is creating gaps in fighting terrorism would have been bridged and "NCTC would have brought that coordination".

At the outset of an AICC briefing, Chidambaram said the Congress party expresses deep regret and concern over the train blast. Two minor-intensity bombs rocked the Guwahati-Bangalore Express at the Chennai Central Railway station early on Thursday morning claiming a woman's life and leaving 13 others injured.