When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted Rameswar Teli into his cabinet on Thursday, happiness swept across Assam, particularly the tea garden areas of the state.Many in Assam feel a cabinet berth to the young and dynamic MP like Teli was long overdue.Born on August 14, 1970 to Budhu Teli (father) and Dukla Teli (mother) in the Tipling area of Dibrugarh district of Assam, Rameswar Teli has walked a long thorny path to become the Lok Sabha member from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency.A two-time BJP legislator from the Duliajan Assembly seat in Assam, Teli has been springing surprises since his political debut. In 2001, he contested the Assam Assembly polls on a BJP ticket first time and defeated the Congress candidate in the Duliajan constituency, a Congress stronghold. Teli retained the seat in 2006 Assembly polls, but lost it to Amiya Gogoi in 2011. The defeat, however, failed to dent his popularity.
His popularity made the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) field him in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Dibrugarh against Congress strongman and former Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, who had retained the seat for five terms since 1991.Teli defeated Ghatowar with over 1,85,000 votes. He again beat Ghatowar in Dibrugarh in this Lok Sabha polls and with the highest margin of 3,64,566 votes in Assam.Teli, a bachelor, is popular in the area for his ordinary lifestyle and amicable nature.While his parents still live in the thatched house in Tipling, his uncle is a handcart puller. When in his constituency, Teli operates from his office, which is made of bamboo, like most house in the rural Assam.