Ex-Odisha CM Giridhar Gamang quits BJP; will likely join KCR’s BRS

A date of joining has not been finalised yet.

“I joined the BJP of my free will, without any pre-condition in 2015. I am thankful to PM Narendra Modi, and the then-party president Amit Shah for clarifying on the floor of Parliament about my voting in 1999. However, I realised that I am unable to discharge my political, social, and moral duty to my people in Odisha during the last several years,” said Gamang in his resignation letter to BJP national president JP Nadda, referring to his controversial no-confidence vote that helped topple the NDA government that year.

Addressing a news conference in Bhubaneswar Wednesday, Gamang and his son said they had quit because of the “humiliation” they faced in the BJP. “An insult is tolerable but not humiliation. I have not tolerated humiliation in the past, nor do I tolerate it now,” said Gamang.

The junior Gamang also claimed that a leader from southern Odisha did not let them work to strengthen the party in their home region.

“Neither he (the leader) worked to strengthen the party in southern Odisha, nor allowed us to work. Even as I aired the grievance to state leadership including to Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, nothing happened,” Shishir told The Indian Express.

Shishir also alleged that this leader openly worked to ensure his defeat when he contested as the BJP candidate from the Gunupur Assembly seat in 2019. Shishir had finished fourth in the poll by securing 16,491 votes, accounting for 11.55% of total polled votes.

After meeting the Telangana Chief Minister, Shishir had said KCR had made them an offer to lead the party in Odisha.

Gamang, a prominent face from the tribal community, had been elected to the Lok Sabha a record nine times from Koraput constituency. He had also served as Odisha chief minister for 10 months — from February to December 1999. Gamang had last fought the Lok Sabha election in 2014 on a Congress ticket and lost by a narrow margin to BJD’s Jhina Hikaka.

Gamang’s controversial vote during a no-confidence motion had led to the fall of the 13-month-old NDA government at the Centre led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee on April 17, 1999. He had also stoked controversy by voting in the no-confidence motion despite having become the chief minister of Odisha two months back then. As he had not resigned as the Lok Sabha member, he used the privilege to vote in the no-confidence motion.