Once a fierce rival, Bobby Jindal says he will vote for Donald Trump

WASHINGTON: Once a fierce critic of Donald Trump and a former presidential contender, Indian-American Bobby Jindal has said he would vote for the New York billionaire if he were to be the Republican party's pick for the White House.

"I do think he'll be better than Hillary Clinton, I don't think it's a great set of choices. If he is the nominee, I'm going to be supporting my party's nominee. I'm not happy about it...but I would vote for him over Hillary Clinton," Jindal, 44, yesterday told CNN in an interview.

Jindal, a former Governor of Louisiana, was himself a presidential candidate till a few months ago. His popularity ratings dropped below one percentage soon after he launched a scathing attack against Trump from the National Press Club last year.

Jindal had then described Trump as an "egomaniac" who was "devoid of substance" and "dangerous".

But yesterday, Jindal said he would vote for Trump arguing that he is better than Clinton, who is likely to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

"I think Donald Trump has tapped into middle class anxieties. He's doing well in part because voters are responding to what he is saying, he's saying, look, he'll fight for them," Jindal said hours before Trump won the Indiana primary and became the Republican presumptive nominee.

But at the same time, Jindal said it would be tough for Trump to defeat Clinton. "I think Donald Trump is going to have the hardest time beating Hillary of all the candidates that ran for president," he said.