By winning the Louisiana Governor race, Bobby Jindal  faces a daunting challenge ahead. He will take over one of the poorest states with low literacy levels in the United States from incumbent Kathleen Rouge in Louisiana. Republican Jindal, a rising star of President George W Bush’s party, impressively defeated his opponents in the Gubernatorial poll in a state that has not had a non-white head since the reconstruction era.

Jindal, who was twice elected to two-year term, each for Congress from Louisiana’s First Congressional District based in the suburbs of New Orleans, is currently a member of the House of Representatives and would retain the post till January next, when he assumes the charge as Governor in January next. He faces significant challenges as the Chief Executive of Louisiana, a state which was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Jindal, who was born a Hindu converted to Catholicism and attended high school at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. In 1991, he graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with honours in biology and public policy. Later, he received a master’s degree in political science from New College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Jindal is the second Indian-American to serve in Congress after Dalip Singh Saund, a Democrat, who represented California’s 29th District from 1957 to 1963.

MIXED FEELINGS WELCOME JINDAL

New York, pti: Welcoming the election of Bobby Jindal as Governor of Louisiana, the Indian American Leadership Initiative (IALI), a Democratic network, has described it as a major success for the community but said his position on various subjects leaves a “mixed feeling”.
Reacting to Jindal’s election, IALI spokesman Toby Chaudhuri said Bobby is a conservative Republican and most Indian Americans are not. “So there is a mixed feeling about him.”