Bhubaneswar, Jan 17: On Wednesday, Giridhar Gamang, the former Odisha chief minister and a nine-time Koraput Lok Sabha MP spanning from 1972 to 2004, returned to the Congress after an absence of around eight years.

In 2015, Gamang had departed from the Congress, subsequently affiliating with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and later, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

The 80-year-old leader, accompanied by his wife and former MLA Hema Gamang, son Sishir Gamang, and former Bargarh MP Sanjay Bhoi, officially rejoined the grand old party. The reunion took place in the presence of Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken and Odisha Congress In-Charge Dr. Ajoy Kumar in Delhi.

Sanjay Bhoi had previously secured victory in the Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency on a Congress ticket during the 2009 elections. Although he faced defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bhoi later switched allegiance, leaving Congress to join the BJP after not being considered for the Bargarh seat in the 2019 elections.

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