The elevation to a Cabinet berth was a long-awaited reward for Bijoy Krishna Handique.

Six-term MP from Jorhat in Assam, Handique is a known Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist and a non-controversial leader who served as the minister of state for parliamentary affairs in the outgoing government.

The 74-year-old Handique's elevation is significant also in view of the fact that he is the only representative from the northeast in the new Cabinet.

Only son of Assam's noted educationist late Krishna Kanta Handique, who was the first Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University, Handique joined the Congress early in his age and became an MLA in 1972 for the first time.

In 1980, Handique was elected to the Rajya Sabha and served the Congress party under Indira Gandhi in various capacities. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991 from Jorhat and held the post of AICC secretary in-charge of several states.

Handique was subsequently elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls from the traditional Jorhat seat. In 2004, he was first appointed as minister of state for defence. In 2006, he was shifted to the chemical and fertilizer ministry.

During the tenure of the Manmohan Singh government he was also holding the charge of minister of state for parliamentary affairs. The Handique family, which owns a number of tea gardens, is also known for their philanthropic works and contributed a large sum of money for setting up of several higher educational institutions in Assam, including a leading girls' college in Guwahati.