Ravneet Singh Bittu quits as Union Minister as Rajya Sabha term ends

BJP's Ravneet Singh Bittu resigned as Union Minister of State for Railways after his Rajya Sabha term ended. Bittu, who joined BJP from Congress in 2024, recently lost the Lok Sabha polls. His resignation comes as BJP eyes the 2027 Punjab polls.

Ravneet Singh Bittu Resigns from Union Council

BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu on Friday resigned as Union Minister of State for Railways after his Rajya Sabha tenure ended on June 21. According to a notification from Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President has accepted his resignation from the Council of Ministers. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from August 2024 to June 2026 from Rajasthan.

Political Background and Electoral History

The resignation comes as the BJP gears up for the Punjab Legislative Assembly 2027. Ravneet Bittu is the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Beant Singh. Ravneet Bittu was a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Congress, before switching to the BJP in 2024, ahead of the General Election.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, Bittu contested the polls on a Congress ticket and was up against the heavyweights Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann. He lost the polls to Badal and finished third behind Mann. In 2024, contesting his first polls on the BJP ticket, he lost the General Elections to Congress state president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring with a margin of 20,942 votes.

BJP Eyes 2027 Punjab Polls

The BJP is set to go solo in the Punjab elections, dismissing the speculations of an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. During his visit to Punjab earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had targeted the Akali Dal, accusing it of serving its own "selfish interests" and caring "nothing for the people of Punjab."

Aam Aadmi Party won the 2022 Assembly elections, securing 92 of 117 seats, while the BJP was restricted to just two seats in its bag. With the sacrilege video fiasco against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and an internal conflict in the Congress, the BJP eyes a better performance in the 2027 elections. (ANI)

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