[2][3] His wife, Hema Gamang, won from Koraput constituency in the 1999 elections to the 13th Lok Sabha, while he was serving as the 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 six months).

The government lost power by one 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.

[4] He lost the Koraput seat for the first time in the 2009 elections to Jayaram Pangi of the Biju Janata Dal.

He quit Bharatiya Janata Party and joined Bharat Rashtra Samithi in 2023.