The BJP Tuesday declared that George Kurian, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Minority Affairs in the Narendra Modi Government, would be its candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
The nomination comes in view of the vacancy of one of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, which fell vacant after Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was elected to Parliament from the Guna Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections.
The 63-year-old from Kerala is also the vice-chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities. He has been a committed BJP worker now for more than 40 years, joining the party when it was formed in 1980.
Out of its 11 Rajya Sabha seats, eight are currently held by the BJP. These include the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, L Murugan, who also represents Madhya Pradesh in the upper house of Parliament. Three others are held by the Congress: Digvijaya Singh, Vivek Tankha, and Ashok Singh are the three Rajya Sabha MPs from the state.
Some reports even indicated that former Madhya Pradesh Cabinet ministers Narottam Mishra and Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya were being considered for the post before Kurian's candidature was declared.
George Kurian is a veteran politician and practising lawyer in the Supreme Court. He was the former vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and the OSD to former Union Minister of State for Railways, O. Rajagopal. Kurian took oath as the Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Minority Affairs in Modi 3.0 government on 9 June.
George Kurian will be the second Union Minister, after his Cabinet colleague Ravneet Singh Bittu, to be fielded by the BJP for the Rajya Sabha. While Ravneet Singh Bittu is a resident of Punjab and the grandson of former Punjab CM Beant Singh, he has been picked as the BJP nominee for the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. A three-time former Congress MP, Bittu is currently serving in Modi 3.0 as Minister of State for Railways and MoS for Food Processing Industries.
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