OUR BUREAU New Delhi

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Home Ministry on Tuesday recommended to the government that it should keep the notification for constitution of the National Counter Terrorism Centre on hold, pending consultations with the states.

The decision came even as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah became the second ruling UPA ally after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamul Congress to oppose the constitution of NCTC without consulting the states.

Incidentally, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, would discuss the controversial counterterror intelligence hub with him.

Two other allies of the ruling coalition - the Nationalist Congress Party and the DMK - have also called for consultations with the states for ensuring that the NCTC does not remain a paper tiger but becomes an effective and powerful grid in the fight against terrorism.

At the meeting of the parliamentary committee, members of non- Congress parties grilled Union Home Secretary R K Singh on setting up of the NCTC. They asked the Home Secretary to explain how the Centre can decide unilaterally on setting up the counter- terrorism body without consulting states. The committee chairman is BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu. He has been asked by committee members to convey to the Home Ministry that the proposal be put on hold. Members of BJP, BJD, AIADMK and Left parties were of the opinion that the NCTC " impinges" on the powers of states and would affect the federal structure.