Indian Union Minister George Kurien Resigns

New Delhi. Indian Union Minister George Kurien has resigned from the cabinet. The President's House issued a statement on Tuesday informing about Kurien's resignation. President Droupadi Murmu accepted his resignation on the recommendation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the clear reason for the resignation has not been disclosed. The 65-year-old Kurien was serving as the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in the Modi government's third term. He was a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh since August 2024. His term as Rajya Sabha MP ended on June 21, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not nominate him again. Kurien is considered one of the senior leaders of the BJP in Kerala. It is estimated that he was not given another opportunity due to the party's unimpressive performance in the recent Kerala Assembly elections. Kurien belongs to the 'Syro-Malabar Catholic Church', a major Christian community in Kerala. He has been seen as the main face of the BJP in television debates. He also used to translate the speeches of Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah into Malayalam during their visits to Kerala. His appointment in the Modi 3.0 government in 2024 was seen as a strategy to strengthen the BJP's hold among the Christian community in Kerala. However, in the Kerala Assembly elections of May 2026, the BJP could win only 3 out of 140 seats. Elections were held on June 18 for 26 Rajya Sabha seats in 12 states of India. These included Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Gujarat. Out of 26, 23 candidates were elected unopposed. In this election, NDA won 19 seats, INDIA alliance won 6 seats, and Mizoram's Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) won one seat. In the list of candidates released by the BJP on June 4, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurien were not nominated again. After the tickets of both these individuals were cut, discussions have started that there may be a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.