Gamang

Bhubaneswar, July 20: In April 1999, he had cast the single vote that brought down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Now, on the other side of the fence, Congress MP Giridhar Gamang hopes to save the UPA regime scrambling to gather votes for the July 22 vote.

Nine years ago, the 65-year-old tribal leader’s vote was the 270th against the confidence motion for the Vajpayee regime, against 269 in favour. It looks like a close contest again.

“We are hopeful we will win,” said the veteran Koraput MP. A known Gandhi family loyalist, he flew to Delhi yesterday for the trust vote and met Sonia Gandhi.

When he had sealed the Vajpayee government’s fate, Gamang was Orissa chief minister but hadn’t resigned as MP, taking advantage of the six-month window within which both posts can be held at the same time. With the government’s fall, the single vote cast by Gamang became part of parliamentary history.

Gamang still remembers the day. “I was busy with official work in Bhubaneswar when I was called by the high command to come and cast my vote. I came and voted against the trust motion,” he said over phone from Delhi.

Back home, Gamang had been criticised by the Biju Janata Dal-BJP combine for “toppling” the government, but he has no regrets. “It was a crucial vote but I hadn’t done anything unethical. Of course, I was chief minister but I was a Lok Sabha member, too. So I voted for my party.”

The stocky leader has represented Koraput without a break since 1972, except in 1999-2004, when he relinquished the seat to wife Hema to become chief minister.

Gamang was re-elected in 2004 but that year the couple hit the headlines since both staked claim to the seat. Hema, a sitting MP then, was initially allowed to seek re-election but the Congress leadership eventually settled for Gamang, who had won the seat eight times in a row.

Politics isn’t the only thing that keeps Gamang going. A well-known musician, he helped establish a culture university in Orissa and founded Hidden Talents, a cultural troupe, to promote tribal and folk music.

He has evolved a new style of playing the dhamp, a tribal instrument, and released a cassette showcasing his skills. He is an author, too, having unveiled Piradana Kening, a collection of Soura tribal poems in Oriya. “Music is my life without which I cannot live,” says the leader, but quickly adds that he isn’t bidding farewell to politics.