New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on August 25 strongly condemned the blasts in Mumbai and directed the Chief Minister of the party-ruled state to take stern action against those responsible for the crime.

"I condemn the blasts that occurred in Mumbai in the strongest possible term. It is apparent that they have been planned and executed by anti-national forces," she said in her message of condolence to the members of the bereaved families.

Gandhi was also of the view that these forces should be countered by the agencies of the state and the Central government without giving any quarter whatsoever.

The Congress chief said she had spoken to Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to ascertain the facts and asked him to take stern steps to deal with the forces responsible for these dastardly crimes.

Meanwhile in Ahmedabad Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi described the Mumbai blasts as "shocking" and "a dangerous conspiracy to weaken the nation", and added that it was the manifestation of "semi and veiled terrorism" by targeting economically sound states of India.

"Semi-terrorism activities like fake currency notes, narcotic trade and spurious drugs are being carried out to shatter the economy and social bonding," Modi said in a statement.

He emphasised the need for a more cautious, alert and united society and nation, in wake of such inhuman conspiracies being specifically targeted at Mumbai, Gujarat, Hyderabad and Bangalore that are focus of rapid development.

Apparently taking a dig at organisations not condemning the blasts, Modi said, "Anti-human forces get stronger when pseudo-secularists and five-star activists of the nation conveniently maintain a stoic silence over such handiworks of terrorists aimed at weakening the country's economy."

Modi also stressed the need for modernisation of defence mechanism and widespread social awareness, at a time when country faces a serious challenge of countering the scourge of hidden terrorism.

In Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee described the bomb blasts in Mumbai as a terrorist act and said that Pakistan intelligence agency was active inside India.

"ISI is not only active in the country's border areas but also inside India to destabilise the situation," Bhattacharjee told a meeting organised on the occasion of 'Tripura Day'.

Stating that the country was facing a difficult situation, Bhattacharjee said, "We in West Bengal have to remain alert."

He said, "India is a multi-lingual and multi-religion state. We have to maintain national integrity at any cost. Leftists will not make any compromise on this issue."

PTI