Union Minister George Kurian has resigned from the Union Council of Ministers following the completion of his Rajya Sabha tenure. 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 additional charge of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

He retired from the Rajya Sabha on June 21 and the BJP leadership had decided not to renominate him to the Upper House in the recent election, thus necessitating his resignation from the Union Ministry.

As per a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr. Kurian’s resignation was accepted under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution with immediate effect.

Long association

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

His resignation set off speculation that a reshuffle of the Union Cabinet was in the offing. Incidentally, Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu’s Rajya Sabha term also came to an end when Mr. Kurian’s did, but no resignation has been forthcoming from him till the time of writing.

In a Facebook post after his resignation was accepted, Mr. Kurian said that becoming a Union Minister wasn’t something that he had imagined and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the opportunity.

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

“I had never imagined, not even in my dreams, that I would become a Union Minister. It was only because Narendra Modi became Prime Minister that I was given the opportunity to serve as a Union Minister,” he wrote.

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