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Gomango's 'hidden talent' will be on test

Debi Pattnaik in Bhubaneswar

A teacher-turned-politician and a popular tribal politician, 55-year-old former Union minister of state Giridhar Gomango today became Orissa's 15th chief minister.

Born in Dibrisingh village of the tribal Koraput district, Gomango, after graduation, became an English teacher at the M E High School in Behrampur from 1968 to 1971.

In 1972, when his uncle Bhagirathi Gomango vacated the Koraput Lok Sabha seat and retained the assembly seat, Gomango chose to contest the by-election and entered the Lok Sabha for the first time.

He has since represented Koraput in the Lok Sabha a record eight times, even surviving the Janata waves in 1977 and 1989.

The soft-spoken Gomango is the only tribal politician from Orissa who has served as a Union minister under Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao.

He joined the Union Cabinet as a deputy minister and later worked as minister of state for food processing, welfare and programme implementation, and communications.

As communications minister, he helped develop an extensive communications network in Orissa. Even remote tribal areas were connected with the STD facility.

Besides politics, Gomango is adept at playing several musical instruments. He is considered an expert on the changu, a tribal musical instrument. His folk dance troupe, known as 'hidden talent', has performed in different parts of the country.

UNI

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