Nial Patel, left, with Rep. Bobby Jindal. (Photo: Courtesy, Nial Patel)

Nial Patel, 25, caught the political bug in school and hasn’t let go. He says he absolutely “loves” public service. Today, he takes care of Rep. Bobby Jindal’s home base in Metairie township in the 1st District of Louisiana, making sure the Freshman Congressman maintains his links with the people who sent him to office.

“I represent Bobby to his constituents in the First District of Louisiana. I act as a liaison between constituents and various federal agencies. I love public service and I cannot think of anything more pleasing than being able to help people better their lives and understand government,” Patel told News India-Times in an interview.

Rep. Jindal has at least two Indian Americans in key staff positions. Apart from Patel, there’s Sapna Delacourt as legislative director and counsel in his Washington office.

During his campaign first for Louisiana Governor and then for the U.S. Congress, several Indian Americans filtered through, including Neil Shah of Washington, and Ranika Ahuja of Louisiana.

Patel was born in Toronto but moved to New Orleans at age 1. His father, Ashok Patel, an engineer who has worked for NASA and is now a businessman, is from Gujarat, and his mother Gita is from Kisumu, Kenya.

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Nial Patel studied economics and political science, and later earned a graduate degree in economic public policy. He began working for Jindal as a volunteer on his gubernatorial campaign. “I love politics, but was never active until I saw that I could play a role in something I really believed. I did everything from answering phones to organizing volunteers to helping research for policy papers and debates. I was pinned down from project to project and was used to help all aspects of the campaign,” Patel said.

“A huge undertaking, besides the long hours of research for the governors race, was organizing 150 home schoolchildren to volunteer for Bobby’s congressional campaign,” he recalled. He was a “sort of deputy” to everyone in the campaign.

He has other achievements to his name. He worked for the Louisiana Republican Party as Convention Coordinator and took the lead in organizing a state convention for all republicans in Louisiana. Before that, he was Editor of PoliticsLa.com where he reported political news from across the state and was instrumental in building PoliticsLA to three times its readership, he claimed. As editor, I hosted receptions and political satire events that brought very varied crowds to discuss the “happenings” in the state.

He currently is on the board of the Louisiana Young Republican Federation as vice president of fund-raising.

“I consider myself a Louisiana political operative and hope to help build the Republican Party in the state by true leadership, educating the voters, and hard work,” said Patel, a claim Rep. Jindal takes seriously, placing Patel in a key post in his home state.