Bobby jindal parents naturalized

Bobby Jindal is America's most high-profile Indian politician

Bobby Jindal, the 37-year old governor of Louisiana and the first Indian-American to occupy such a post, is one of the Republican Party's rising stars, tipped as a likely contender for the White House four years from now.

Piyush Jindal was born in Baton Rouge, the capital of the southern state of Louisiana, to Indian parents who had immigrated from the Punjab.

He started calling himself Bobby from an early age and converted from Hinduism to Catholicism as a teenager.

After a spell at Oxford University and with the international consultancy firm, McKinsey, he was hired by Louisiana's governor to fix the state's healthcare problems.

He is credited with steering Louisiana's healthcare system towards a surplus after years of multi-million-dollar budget deficits.

His management skills attracted Washington's attention - and led President George W Bush to give him a top job in