Giridhar Gamang (born 8 April 1943) is a former leader of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

and a former Chief Minister of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. He has resigned BJP in 2023. He was born at Dibirisingi village in

Rayagada district Rayagada district is a district in southern Odisha, a state in India, which became a separate district in October 1992. Its population consists mainly of tribes, primarily the Khonds and the Soras. In addition to Odia, Kui and Sora are s ...

. In 1972, he was elected for the first time to the

5th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 5th Lok Sabha, ( 15 March 1971 — 18 January 1977) elected February–March 1971.The term of the House was extended two times by one year at a time. However, the House was dissolved after having been in existence for a ...

from

Koraput Koraput is a town and a Municipality in Koraput district in the Indian state of Odisha. Koraput town is the district headquarter of Koraput district. History The district of Koraput derives its name from its headquarters the present town of K ...

. Subsequently, he was re-elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

in 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2004. He was the Chief Minister of Odisha from 17 February 1999 to 6 December 1999. His wife,

Hema Gamang Hema Gamang (born 31 March 1961) is a political and social worker and a Member of Parliament elected from the Koraput constituency in the Indian state of Odisha as an Indian National Congress candidate. Gamang was born on 31 March 1961 in ...

, won from

constituency in the 1999 elections to the

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

, while he was serving as the Chief Minister of

. In 1998, while he was a member of the 12th parliament, he was asked to become Chief minister of Odisha. Two months later, there was a vote-of-confidence against the BJP government and Giridhar still went to the parliament to vote against the government as he was from congress (despite the fact that he had to quit either being CM or the MP office and become MLA, within 6 months). The government lost power by 1 vote (269–270) and it is widely believed that if Giridhar had abstained, the speaker, G. M. C. Balayogi would have used his vote to save the government in case of tie. The fall of government resulted in another fresh general election in May 1999. He lost the

seat for the first time in the 2009 elections to

Jayaram Pangi Jayaram Pangi (born 16 August 1955) is an Indian politician of Biju Janata Dal. He was a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the Koraput (Lok Sabha constituency). On 9 May 2017 he left BJD and joined hands with Bharatiya Janta Party. ...

of the

Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party i ...

. In January 2023 he quit Bharatiya Janata Party to join

Bharat Rashtra Samithi Bharat Rashtra Samithi ( ; BRS), formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS), is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in the state of Telangana. It was founded on 27 April 2001 as by K. Chandrashekar Rao, with a singl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamang, Giridhar 1943 births Living people Indian National Congress politicians India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Odisha Chief Ministers of Odisha People from Rayagada district People from Koraput district Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Odisha