Dr. Chittaranjan Ranawat, noted surgeon, chairman, Department of Orthopedics, Lennox Hill Hospital

I can say in general terms that we are here to make an impact and a person like Bobby Jindal should have won the election. It doesn’t mean we should give up hope because unless we fight and show our presence in the political scene we would not be counted.

Bobby Jindal’s is a case in point. He came close (to winning) and he should not be discouraged. We are behind him.

I don’t know what other positions he would consider but whatever else he would like to do, we will support him.

All candidates of Indian origin in different parts of the U.S. should contact a clearing-house, get their positions known, and then we support them. Right now, everybody is doing there own thing. I would like to have a commonality. We are too fragmented and not together. I think Bobby would have benefited, and we could have sent a delegation if we were more organized and help him run the campaign even better.

‘He is a big political force to reckon with. So maybe he should run for higher office’

Dr. R. Vijayanagar, renowned cardiovascular surgeon, appointed by President Bush as Member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and co-founder of the Indian American Republican Council.

I was extremely anxious on Nov. 15 and waiting all day and then I kept awake and suddenly they declared that Blanco was the winner! Obviously, it was a disappointment. All along, we were told he was so many percentage points ahead.

I was in Washington the weekend before and met Karl Rove (President Bush’s adviser) and I was thanking him for doing the Diwali function at the White House, and he told me that we are going to have another terrific news on Nov. 15 ---- we are going to have a complete Republican sweep.

The thing is Bobby wanted to do it alone. Before the primary the Party did not get involved anyway. After that, the Republican Party was extremely interested, but from what I understand, that Bobby was getting reports from minorities that if he brings in Washington, he may lose.

This lady, Kathleen Blanco, is a political wizard, and has been in politics for 20 years, and Bobby is very young. He is a brilliant political scientist, but a few factors matter. But again getting 48 percent of vote ---- he is a big political force to reckon with. So maybe he should run for higher office ---- Representative or Senator. I think this is a great learning experience. The country knows who he is. So it is not a waste. We are going to support him, the IARC (Indian American Republican Council) is with him and behind him.

‘Jindal is going to be a strong politician for Indian community

Raj Vattikutti, businessman and philanthropist from Michigan, founder and CEO of Complete Business Solutions, Inc.

I think it is very unfortunate. We were all confident he was going to win. I think in a state like that for him to come to that level, it is remarkable. It is an attribute to his way of handling people, his intelligence. I think he is going to be a strong politician for the Indian community. And especially in the Republican Party he made a really big mark in terms of being a true leader. I am sure he will get a lot of support moving forward generally in politics.

To a certain extent, the opposition used his (Jindal’s) age against him, and he lost some votes for that. He has very good chance and we as Indian American Republicans are going to push very hard to get him a cabinet position if President George W. Bush is re-elected. And he will continue to play strong politics in Louisiana.

Next time, he will be more targeted in his audience in terms of the different races and genders, age, all those things. But these are all hindsights. He tried all these things but just it was not enough to get that last percentage points. He is remarkable.