New Delhi, June 11 -- Following the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination, senior Congress leaders Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Manik Rao Thakre on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to "destroy democracy" and "suppress opposition voices."

Randhawa claimed that the BJP government had overstepped by deciding which candidates are eligible to contest elections. Natarajan was the Congress' lone Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh

"The BJP government is such that they will now decide which candidate will contest the election and who will not. This is being done to destroy democracy," the Gudaspur MP told reporters.

Drawing a parallel to India's struggle for independence, he added, "The...