Congress leader Ahmed Patel was on Friday declared elected unopposed for the fourth time to the Rajya Sabha while BJP’s actor-turned politician Smriti Irani also made it to the Upper House of Parliament for the first time, without any contest.

Representation of Mumbai in the Union Cabinet has drastically reduced as the financial capital of India failed to get even a single Cabinet-rank minister despite the excellent performance in the last two Lok Sabha elections.

The information provided by the last India Mujahideen operative to be arrested has been ignored by the Union home ministry. Though both the Central and state governments maintained there have been no intelligence inputs on any fresh terror attacks, Salman, alias Chotu, an IM operative arrested by the Uttar Pradesh ATS, had revealed the IM’s plans to strike Mumbai soon. He had also said during interrogation that the IM was regrouping in order to strike in different places, including Mumbai.

Almost 24 hours after the blasts, the Mumbai police, despite being totally clueless about the perpetrators behind the explosions, appealed to Mumbaikars to have faith and trust the police.

A team of the National Investigating Agency visited all the three blast sites in the city gathered evidence on Thursday.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani on Thursday called for a stringent state policy of zero tolerance against the terrorism. He also alleged that the triple bomb blasts in Mumbai were a part of Pakistan’s anti-India campaign.
“India has been facing hostility from its neighbour Pakistan since its Independence in 1947. The first war took

Union home minister P. Chidambaram early on Thursday said that despite several improved methods in information gathering and dissemination, there was no intelligence input either with the Central or the state-level security agencies regarding the serial blasts.

Mumbai may never be completely safe, as its citizens found Wednesday evening when terror struck the city again over two and a half years after the horrific 26/11 attacks in 2008. In a bizarre way, Wednesday’s serial blasts took place on the 13th day of the month, a coincidence which the police might find hard to explain away, given that several earlier terror attacks in the country had taken place either on the 13th or the 26th of a month.

All that was heard was a loud thud when the first bomb went off at Opera House. After the haze cleared, witnesses saw smoke billowing all over and limbs strewn about.

Once again the peace and calm of Mumbai was shattered Wednesday evening as three blasts ripped through the most congested areas of the city, leaving 21 people dead and 145 others injured. The blasts took place between 6.50 pm and 7.04 pm at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar — home to the country’s biggest diamond and gold markets — and near Kabutarkhana at Dadar, the main market for affordable household items and domestic appliances.