Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Jun 23: Veteran BJP leader George Kurian on Tuesday resigned as a Union Minister after completing his six-year term as a Rajya Sabha member, with the party deciding not to renominate him to the Upper House.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan said President Droupadi Murmu accepted Kurian’s resignation under Article 75(2) of the Constitution on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kurian, 65, from Kottayam in Kerala, had been inducted into the Union Cabinet in 2024 in what was seen as the BJP’s outreach towards the Christian community in the state.
A lawyer by profession, Kurian has been a prominent face of the BJP in Kerala and had earlier served as vice-president of the party’s state unit. He was also frequently seen translating speeches of Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah into Malayalam during their Kerala visits.
Kurian belongs to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and has been associated with the BJP since its formation in 1980. Over the years, he served as state general secretary, national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and a member of the BJP national executive.
He had contested against then Kerala Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy from Puthuppally in the 2016 Assembly elections but was defeated.
Kurian had earlier worked as officer on special duty to BJP veteran O Rajagopal when he served as a Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government between 1999 and 2004.
According to BJP sources, Kurian was reportedly not informed in advance about the decision not to renominate him to the Rajya Sabha. The announcement came as a surprise when the party released its list of 11 candidates on June 4.
Kurian’s exit follows a similar situation faced by former Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who resigned a day before the end of his Rajya Sabha term after not receiving a fresh nomination.
Kurian was a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh. For the latest round of nominations from the state, the BJP selected Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Agrawal for the Upper House.