WASHINGTON: Republican leaders have chosen Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to deliver the Republican response following President Barack Obama's remarks to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, praised the young governor in the announcement to members of the press.
"Governor Jindal embodies what I have long said: The Republican Party must not be simply the party of opposition, but (also) the party of better solutions," Boehner said in a statement.
McConnell said he was "an excellent choice" to deliver the party's response.
A rising star in the Republican Party, the Indian-American governor, who took office last year, has become increasingly prominent in the party and is regularly mentioned as a potential 2012 or 2016 presidential contender. He insists that he is running for a second term as governor in 2011 and has no plans to run for president.
Piyush, better known as "Bobby" or "BJ", cemented his status in the party when he was given the high-profile slot that the rival party often gives to up-and-coming party players.
After Obama speaks to a joint session of the House and Senate in an appearance similar to a State of the Union address, Jindal will give the Republican response in a nationally televised address from his state's capitol, Baton Rouge.
Jindal was widely believed to be on then Republican presidential nominee John McCain's shortlist for vice president, and often served as a campaign surrogate on the Arizona senator's behalf.
At 37, Jindal is roughly half the age of the party's losing presidential candidate.
The son of a successful Indian immigrant Jindal was also given a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican national convention in September, though he ultimately decided not to attend the four-day event as Hurricane Gustav headed for landfall in his state.
An Ivy League graduate and Rhodes scholar, Jindal has long been on the Republicans' radar screen as a potential future leader and likely presidential candidate.
As the Republican Party is launching full-scale efforts to appeal to non-white voters, Jindal has become one of the party's most high-profile minorities. Louisiana voters also recently sent to Congress the country's first Vietnamese American: Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao.
As a minority figure, the first person of Indian ancestry to be governor of any US state, Jindal might cast the right look and feel to the GOP, which was criticized for looking mostly white at its convention last summer.
Jindal has been in both the national and state spotlight for trying to bring a new face to Louisiana and to stand for clean, open politics. His platform consisted of ethics reform, hurricane recovery, health care, economic reform, and reforms on education, crime and spending.
But he has also been criticized for initially saying he wouldn't oppose state congressional salary increases. Only after considerable public outcry did he veto the pay raises after saying he wouldn't.
The governor also retreated on a key element of his ethics reform - forcing congressional members to disclose their sources of income - after the state congress protested. Meanwhile, the per capita murder rate in New Orleans, a city still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, continues to be one of the highest in the nation.
