At the end of the day-long conference in which Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi asked the Centre to drop the proposal while Jayalalithaa said it should be kept in abeyance, there was uncertainty as to when the NCTC would come into operation.
Home Minister P Chidambaram parried questions on a timeline for implementing his pet project that has been kept on hold ever since non-Congress chief ministers raised strong opposition saying it cut at the root of the states powers and destroyed the federal fabric.
He said he was "leaving the meeting with an open mind" and the Government would take a decision on concerns of the chief ministers over locating the NCTC in the Intelligence Bureau and undertaking operations even in exceptional cases.
"I firmly believe that we need a counter-terrorism body. Whether its is NCTC or some other body, whether it will have these powers or some other powers or functions is a matter that can be debated but certainly we need a counter-terrorism body.
"I have assured them that all their suggestions would be most carefully and anxiously considered," he said.
The non-Congress chief ministers opposition came notwithstanding appeals from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram for a broad consensus.
Even Congress ally National Conference voiced reservations over the NCTC in its present form saying it makes it as stringent as the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act. (MORE)