HD Deve Gowda's three-decade-long parliamentary career appears to be drawing to a close after the BJP did not renominate the former prime minister to the Rajya Sabha elections.
The BJP selected M Nagaraja for Karnataka's lone winnable Rajya Sabha seat, effectively shutting off Gowda's only realistic route back to the Parliament.
Congress leaders portrayed the decision as a rebuff to a veteran leader whose regional party aligned with the BJP less than three years ago.
State Congress President B K Hariprasad said the way the BJP denied Deve Gowda the Rajya Sabha seat is an insult not only to him or the regional party, but also to the people of Karnataka.
The BJP rejected suggestions that Gowda had been passed over after internal deliberations, saying no discussion on a fresh Rajya Sabha term for the former prime minister had taken place within the state unit.
