Union Minister George Kurian Resigns After Rajya Sabha Term Ends

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, George Kurian, has resigned from the Council of Ministers. His resignation was accepted by President Droupadi Murmu on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with effect immediately, as per a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Kurian's six-year term in the Rajya Sabha, representing Madhya Pradesh, concluded on June 21, 2026. The BJP did not renominate him for a subsequent term, with party sources suggesting that the party's underwhelming performance in the 2026 Kerala state assembly elections—where it won only three of 140 seats—influenced the decision. Kurian himself had contested and lost from the Kanjirappally constituency in those elections.

The 65-year-old leader, a prominent Christian from the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, had been appointed to the Union Council in June 2024 as part of the Modi 3.0 government. His induction was widely seen as a strategy to strengthen the BJP's foothold among the Christian community in Kerala. However, the party's poor electoral showing in the state appears to have led to a reassessment of Kurian's role. According to reports, Kurian had expressed a desire to work in Kerala, but it remains unclear whether he will take up organizational duties within the party or pursue a broader political role.

Kurian's resignation marks another setback for the BJP in southern India, following the recent resignation of prominent Tamil Nadu leader K. Annamalai on June 2, who subsequently announced the formation of a new political movement. Kurian, who previously served as Officer on Special Duty to former Union Minister O. Rajagopal, was also a familiar face in television debates and had translated speeches of Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah into Malayalam during their Kerala visits.