George Kurian resigns from the position of Union Minister after the end of his term as RS

Jiří Kurian. File photo: X/@ANI

Union Minister George Kurian resigned from the Union Council of Ministers after his Rajya Sabha term ended. President Droupadi Murmu formally accepted his resignation on Tuesday (June 23, 2026).

Mr. Kurian, a senior BJP leader from Kerala, was the Minister of State for Minority Affairs with the additional charge of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying.

He walked out of the Rajya Sabha on 21 June and the BJP leadership decided not to re-nominate him to the Upper House in the recent elections, prompting his resignation from the Union Ministry.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communication, Mr. Kurian’s resignation was accepted under Article 75 (2) of the Constitution with immediate effect.

A long association

Hailing from Kottayam district, Mr. Kurian was the only Christian minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and took charge on 9 June 2024. He was associated with the BJP and the RSS since 1980, holding various posts including party spokesperson and vice president of the Kerala BJP unit. He also served as Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and as an Officer on Special Duty in the office of former Minister of State for Railways O. Rajagopal. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.

His resignation sparked speculation that a union cabinet reshuffle was looming. Incidentally, the Rajya Sabha term of Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu also ended when Mr. Kurian’s term ended, but till the time I wrote this article, no resignation came from his side.

In a Facebook post after his resignation was accepted, Mr Kurian said becoming a Union minister was not something he envisioned and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the opportunity.

He shared a photograph of himself with Mr. Modi and said he personally thanked the Prime Minister when they met on June 22 and submitted his resignation.

“I never imagined that I would become a Union Minister. It was only because Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister that I got the opportunity to serve as a Union Minister,” he wrote.

Sources in the BJP said that Mr Kurian is likely to return to active organizational responsibility and has conveyed to the party leadership that he is interested in working in Kerala.

Published – 23 Jun 2026 11:02 IST