Jindal deflects questions on presidential run

Indian-American Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor from Louisiana, on Monday refrained from giving a definite answer on if he would make a bid for the 2012 United States presidential election.

Appearing in an interview on NBC news channel, Jindal remained non-committal on giving a 'yes' answer to his widely speculative bid to bag the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential elections.

Despite repeated question on this issue, which is being widely discussed in the US media, Jindal said he remains focused on his current job, ie, the governorship of Louisiana.

"Do you want to be president?" was the question. "I want to run for the re-election to be the governor of Louisiana in 2011. I've told the people of our state we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change our state. We just finished the longest presidential election in America's history. I don't think our country needs another election. I think we need this president to be successful. We need to work with him. When we disagree, then stand on principle," Jindal said.

When asked if he would serve his complete term if re-elected as the state governor, he said: "If the people of Louisiana will have me, I absolutely want to be the governor for the next seven years. Now, that's up to the voters of Louisiana. We've got a lot of work to do at home. We've cut taxes, we've grown the economy, and we reformed ethics laws. We just have a lot of work to do."

The NBC anchor asked: "You're not ruling out a run for the presidency?" Jindal answered, "What I'm saying is I'm running for the re-election. I have no plans beyond that."

Bobby Jindal is being widely speculated by the Republicans to take on Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential elections. He has been selected by the party to respond to Obama's state of the union address on Tuesday.

"He's somebody I think we're all looking to, to demonstrate that the Republicans do have a positive solution to the challenges facing this country," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.

"Bobby's certainly is one of those people," he said.

Jindal, 37, is leading the Republican fight against Obama's stimulus package. He has been opposing it and on Friday he announced that his state will refuse some funding from the stimulus package.