Veteran BJP leader George Kurian on Tuesday resigned from the post of Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Fisheries, after his six-year tenure in the Rajya Sabha ended.
President Draupadi Murmu has accepted his resignation, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Tuesday.
“The President of India, on the advice of the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Mr. George Kurian from the Union Cabinet, with immediate effect, under Clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution,” Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement. Apart from Kurian, Ravneet Singh Bittu, whose term in the Rajya Sabha is coming to an end, has not been renominated for the June 18 elections.
Read also | Nitish Kumar has been nominated to the Standing Committee on Railways. He chose to leave
Who is George Kurian?
Kurian, 65, has been serving as a minister of state in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third union government since August 2024. He is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been a member of the party since its inception in 1980. He also practiced as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.
Kurian’s Rajya Sabha term ended on June 21, forcing him to relinquish his position. He was allegedly not renominated due to the party’s poor performance in the Kerala Assembly elections.
Kurian was born on September 20, 1960, in Nampiyakulam in Ettumanur municipality in Kottayam district in Kerala, according to the website of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. He completed his studies in his hometown, then continued his graduate studies in law. He was sworn in as Union Minister of State on June 9, 2024, and assumed charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on June 11, 2024.
Before this, Kurian served as Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and a staff member on special duty to the then Union Minister of State for Railways, O Rajagopal.
