Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs L. Murugan on Tuesday resigned from the Council of Ministers and vacated his Rajya Sabha seat, a development that has fuelled speculation about a possible reshuffle of the Union Cabinet.
Murugan, who represented Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha — a term that was to run till 2030 — said in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he wants to return to grassroots work to strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Summing up his decision in his letter to the Prime Minister, Murugan wrote: “Nation First. Party Next. Self Last.”
The resignation is significant not just for the ministerial berth Murugan held, but for the manner of his exit. By giving up both his place in the Council of Ministers and his Rajya Sabha seat — with four years still remaining in his term — the BJP leader has signalled a full-time return to organisational politics in his home state of Tamil Nadu.
Murugan’s stated reason is the BJP’s mission in Tamil Nadu, where the party has been working to expand its footprint ahead of the 2029 general elections. His return to grassroots work is expected to give the party’s state unit a boost as it prepares for the long road to the next Lok Sabha polls. The move places the party’s organisational interests in the state above his own position in the government — a point he underlined with the “Nation First. Party Next. Self Last.” formulation in his letter.
His exit follows the recent departures of George Kurian and Ravneet Singh Bittu from the ministry. Three ministerial exits in quick succession have inevitably set the political grapevine abuzz in the national capital, with speculation mounting about an impending reshuffle of the Union Cabinet.
While there has been no official word on a cabinet rejig, the back-to-back departures have raised questions about the timing and scale of possible changes in the Council of Ministers. Reshuffle speculation is a staple of political conversation in Delhi whenever ministerial exits cluster together, and this round is no exception.
For the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit, however, the immediate story is Murugan’s homecoming. A senior party face returning to full-time state politics years ahead of the 2029 elections gives the party time to build its organisation and outreach in a state where it has been steadily trying to grow beyond its traditional strongholds. Whether the move also opens the door to a larger ministerial shake-up in Delhi will become clearer in the coming days.
