BJP suspends Khanpur MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion for indiscipline
Dehradun: The BJP has suspended Khanpur MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion from the party on charges of indiscipline.
Champion's three-month suspension follows preliminary investigations by the party into charges of indiscipline against him and that of threatening a journalist, Pradesh BJP general secretary Naresh Bansal told reporters late on Saturday evening.
Champion cannot attend any of the meetings of the party or its legislators now for three months, Bansal said after a meeting of Pradesh BJP office bearers in Rishikesh.
A video had gone viral recently in which Champion was purportedly threatening an electronic media journalist at Uttarakhand Niwas in New Delhi.
He was also in the news sometime ago for publicly indulging in a war of words with BJP MLA from Jhabreda Deshraj Karnawal.
Champion, who wanted a ticket for his wife for the Lok Sabha polls from Haridwar, had described the then sitting MP from the seat and now HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as a "migratory bird".
He was among the nine Congress MLAs who had rebelled against Harish Rawat and crossed over to the BJP in 2016.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
