Govt allocated space for Manmohan Singh's memorial, Congress playing 'cheap politics': Nadda
New Delhi, Dec 28: BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday said the Centre had allocated space for Manmohan Singh's memorial and informed his family about it as he accused the Congress of indulging in "cheap politics" over the former prime minister's cremation.
The BJP chief's reaction came after the Congress accused the Centre of insulting Singh, the country's first Sikh prime minister, by performing his last rites at Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated spot that could be turned into his memorial.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the BJP-led Centre had "totally insulted" Singh, a great son of Mother India and the first prime minister from the Sikh community, by performing his last rites at Nigambodh Ghat.
Reacting sharply, Nadda said, "It's very unfortunate that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and incumbent Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge are not refraining from playing politics even over the former prime minister's sad demise."
"No amount of condemnation is enough for such cheap thinking of the Congress. The Congress, which never gave real respect to Manmohan Singh when he was alive, is now playing politics in the name of his respect," he added.
The Union minister also said the government under Prime MInister Narendra Modi had allocated space for Singh's memorial and also informed his family about it.
"Yet, the Congress is spreading lies," he said.
"Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress leaders should refrain from indulging in such cheap politics," Nadda said.
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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.
