Madhya Pradesh emerges as safest route for BJP politicians from Kerala, TN to enter Rajya Sabha
BHOPAL: With BJP naming first-time union minister of state, George Kurian as a candidate for Rajya Sabha by-election from Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, the saffron party-ruled central Indian state seems to be the perfect and safest passage for party’s politicians from Kerala or Tamil Nadu to enter the upper house of the Parliament.
The 64-year-old Kurian, who has been part of the BJP in Kerala, right since the party’s formation in 1980, is all set to travel to the Rajya Sabha, given the BJP’s massive majority in the 230-member MP Vidhan Sabha.
On winning the by-election, he’ll be the fifth BJP politician from Kerala or Tamil Nadu (two South Indian states, where the BJP is working hard to build its base) to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in 32 years.
The Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, is also a lawyer in the Supreme Court. In the past, he served as the vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, besides being an OSD (officer on special duty) to the then Minister of State for Railways O Rajagopal.
Since joining the BJP in 1980, he has served in various positions in the party organisation, including national executive member, national vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and later became the core committee member and vice-president of BJP’s Kerala unit. Besides, he has also served as the translator to PM Narendra Modi during visits to Kerala.
The only time Kurian contested an election was in 2016 when he finished third in the Kerala assembly polls from Puthuppally seat, which was won by then CM and Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy for the eleventh time.
This isn’t the first time that a Union Minister or politician from a southern state (where the BJP has a minimal base) has been sent to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
Since 1992, he is the fifth BJP politician from Tamil Nadu or Kerala to have been elected to the Rajya Sabha from MP.
It all began 32 years back when O Rajagopal, the BJP leader from Kerala (who later became a union minister) was elected to the Rajya Sabha from MP in 1992. His second term in the RS also came from MP in 1998.
The BJP’s next South Indian politician to go to the Rajya Sabha from MP, was Tamil Nadu politician S Thirunavukkarasar (the ex-union minister who joined the BJP for a few years) who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from MP in 2005, but quit as MP and also the BJP four years later.
Seven years later, the then Tamil Nadu BJP chief La Ganeshan Iyer was elected to the RS through a by-election from MP for two years (2016-2018).
In 2021, another Tamil Nadu BJP chief L Murugan (who was the Minister of State in Modi 2.0 and current Modi 3.0 regime) was elected to the RS through a by-election from MP. He got a second term in the upper house of the Parliament in April this year from MP and is currently the Union minister of State for parliamentary affairs, information and broadcasting.
Setback to political prospects of MP BJP leaders
The BJP central leadership’s decision to send George Kurian to the RS from Madhya Pradesh has rendered a rude jolt to the political future of many state BJP leaders, including the former Guna MP Dr KP Singh Yadav, who had done the giant-killing act in 2019 LS polls by defeating present union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from latter’s family pocket-borough Guna LS seat.
Importantly, the lone RS by-poll from MP has been necessitated by the LS polls win of Scindia from the same Guna seat from where he was fielded by the BJP, after denying a ticket to the sitting MP Dr KP Singh Yadav.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah during LS polls campaign had promised to take care of Yadav (after the denial of a ticket from the Guna seat), but it remains to be seen how the former OBC MP is politically empowered by the saffron party.
Kurian’s candidature from MP in the upcoming RS by-poll has also jolted the prospects of some BJP veterans, including ex-minister Narottam Mishra and Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya, besides two other upper caste leaders Kantidev Singh and Mukesh Chaturvedi, who were believed to be in the race for the two years term in the Rajya Sabha from MP.
These upper caste leaders were particularly believed to be in the race for the RS by-poll candidature from MP, as in the previous two RS polls in MP, only OBC, SC and ST leaders have been sent by the BJP to the Rajya Sabha from the central Indian state.
Taking a dig at the BJP ignoring the giant-killer former OBC MP Dr KP Singh Yadava or any of the upper caste politicians from the state while naming its candidate for the RS by-poll, opposition Congress’s state spokesperson A Bundela said, “By naming union minister George Kurian as candidate from MP, the BJP has once again deceived Dr KP Singh Yadav and also shattered the dreams of Narottam Mishra, Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya and others. God knows when their political exile will end in the BJP?”