In a fresh effort to break the logjam over the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today offered to work with states to evolve a consensus on this crucial security measure.

Rejecting the Opposition charge that Government was not dealing effectively with internal security, Singh asserted that there would be no compromise in dealing with terrorism.

"All political parties need to speak with one voice in dealing with terrorism. In order to bring about a broad national consensus, we will work with state governments in respect to the proposal for setting of NCTC," he said in Rajya Sabha while replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.

The setting up of NCTC has been hanging fire for last three years because of strong resistance by Opposition-ruled states, which contend it would encroach upon the powers of the states.

In the wake of the Hyderabad blasts, Government is again initiating efforts to set up the NCTC.

Jaitley had yesterday taken a dig at the government and asked it not to convert the NCTC into a slogan.

"I believe that there are no two points of views that we should not make any compromise in dealing with terrorism," the Prime Minister said.

During his 30-minute reply, Singh replied to a host of issues raised by the Opposition including the country's economy, development and foreign policy besides internal security.

Talking about foreign policy, Singh referred to Pakistan and made it clear that normalisation in relations cannot take place unless the terror infrastructure is dismantled there.

Noting that India has an "unsettled neighbourhood" and needed to remain alert, Singh said the government will "never compromise" with its national interests.

"With Pakistan, we have made sincere efforts to normalise relations. We have achieved some results, people to people contact and trade has shown improvement.

"But there cannot be normalisation, unless and until the terror machine, which is still active in Pakistan, is brought under control. This has been our policy since last 9 years and this will be our same approach to deal with Pakistan in the coming times," the Prime Minister said.

On the plight of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, Singh shared the concern expressed by members and asked the government there to ensure "dignity and self respect" to them.

"We have been worried about the fate of Tamil people in Sri Lanka.... There must be political reconciliation. Without the reconciliation, the situation cannot be resolved there.

"Sri Lanka government must take initiative to talk to the Tamil leadership in Sri Lanka and ensure that the Tamil people are given a life of dignity and self respect," he said.

Singh said India wants its neighbours to prosper and will work with them to strive for providing the SAARC region with new growth, not achieved so far.

Terming the debate on the Motion of Thanks as "vigorous" and "wide-ranging", the Prime Minister tore into BJP's charge that his government has not handled the economy well as he cited figures to show the growth had been better during the UPA rule than the NDA rule.

He particularly singled out Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley for his attack, saying he should assess the economic situation in an unbiased manner, using his "good sense" and not merely score political points.

He shared the members' concern over the slow-down of economy during the current fiscal but exuded confidence that the country will get back to the path of 7 to 8 per cent growth in the next two to three years.

 "As the Finance Minister said we do not believe growth rate will stay where it is today. We will use all our policies to push up growth rate. We hope and it is our confidence that in two to three years economy will bounce back to high growth of 7 to 8 percent," the Prime Minister said.

He said the Leader of Opposition should be objective and respectful in assessing UPA's performance recalling that the "LOP said that UPA inherited fast growing economy and we have made a mess of it."

The Prime Minister said allocation for social sector schemes has gone up during the UPA rule in comparison to the NDA period.

"UPA govt focussed on social spending... We are proud of expanding expenditure in social sector. We are proud of making sincere efforts to fulfil the desire of the poor," he said.

Singh said that during the NDA rule, there were "token provisions" for "this programme that progamme" but the "allocation was so small".

The Prime Minister cited figures to drive home the point that the allocations in schemes like PMGSY went up manifold during the UPA rule.

Singh said that in 1990s also, when Congress was in power and adopted economic reforms to create environment for rapid industrialisation, there were doubts about intents of the government.

He said there were criticism that policies are made in Washington not in Delhi but in 1996 there was United Front Government and later BJP government at the Centre still "there was no change in direction of this path."

"All parties whatever they may say have sworn by the economic reforms," the Prime Minister said.

He said he sincerely hopes and trusts that the LOP will reflect calmly on the situation, the government has dealt with. "...The path we have chosen is the right path," Singh stressed.