Times of India
NEW YORK: Bobby Jindal, son
of Indian immigrants, became the first non-White and the youngest Governor of
the US state of Louisiana when he impressively defeated his opponents in the
gubernatorial poll.
The victory
of 36-year-old Oxford-educated Jindal, who is currently a Republican
Congressman, shows the growing political clout of the Indian-American community
which has been very active during the last few years and has been major
contributor to political campaigns financially as also in providing
volunteers.
In winning
Saturday’s election, Jindal polled more than 50 per cent votes, thus
avoiding the run-off poll which was scheduled for November 17 if no candidate
had won half the votes
polled.
Jindal, who had lost
the Governor's race four years ago to Kathleen Blanco, this time, defeated a
slate of 11 opponents including two Democrats, State Senator Walter Boasso,
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and an independent
businessman John Georges in a closely watched
election.
Jindal got 53 per
cent votes with 625,036 ballots cast in his favour - more than enough to avoid
the November 17 runoff.
Boasso
won 18 per cent with 208,690 votes; Georges got 14 per cent with 1167,477 votes;
and Campbell had 13 per cent with 141,346 votes. Eight candidates divided the
rest.
"Let's give our homeland,
the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start," Jindal said after his
victory.
Until he takes over as
Governor in January next year, he would continue to be Congressman from highly
conservative First Congressional Districts in suburban New
Orleans.
Blanco decided against
contesting the post following sharp criticism over the handling of aftermath of
hurricane Katrina.
Jindal
pledged to fight corruption and rid the state of those "feeding at the public
trough."
"They can either go
quietly or they can go loudly, but either way, they will go," he said and added
he would call the Legislature into special session to address ethics
reform.
After the result was
made known, Georges said, "I'm asking all of our supporters to get behind our
new Governor."