Shivamogga, Sep 20: The Shivamogga police have arrested three persons from here on terror charges, claiming they wanted to advance the activities of the banned Islamic State (IS).

The accused were in possession of explosives and planned to carry out blasts across the state, the police alleged.

The police registered a case on its own against Shariq, Maazi and Syed Yasin who hail from Shivamogga under various sections of the IPC and under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

According to the police FIR, the accused were planning to advance the cause of IS that was detrimental to the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said "the trio had links with IS."

"Intense probe is going on about their activities. They are from Shivamogga and Tirthahalli with links to Mangaluru," he told reporters here on Tuesday.

Police sources claimed the arrested persons had undergone terror training including carrying out blasts.

"The kingpin Yasin has been arrested and is being interrogated closely. Yasin is an electrical engineer," a source said.

Shivamogga was on the boil earlier this year when Hindutva activist Harsha was hacked to death amid the Hijab row in the state. In August, clashes broke out in the city when some right wing members put up a poster of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, which some Muslims had opposed.

During the clash, a 20-year-old man was stabbed and badly injured.

Jnanendra, who hails from Shivamogga district claimed one of the arrested men had links with Pakistan based terror groups.

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Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.

On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.

That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.

Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.

He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.

He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.

After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.

Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.

On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.

On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."

He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.

In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."