Indian-American Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who could not make the cut for the first prime time Republican presidential debate, is among the 16 out of the 17 party hopefuls invited for a CNN debate.
The network announced this morning that former First Lady Nancy Reagan has extended the invite for the CNN/Reagan Library event.
The CNN event on September 16 will be broken into two back-to-back debates with two groups of candidates, unlike the Fox debate in which the two segments were separated by several hours.
Jindal, 44, who could not make it to the prime time debate that featured the top 10 Republican contenders, had apparently fared really weell in the second tier debate that featured seven candidates.
Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, who participated in the debate of lower-tier candidates last week, has not yet been invited for the CNN event.
Candidates must achieve an average of at least 1 per cent of support in three recognised national polls before September 10 to be included in the debate, as well as meeting other criteria.
"Debates are a crucial part of the election process, and I'm thrilled that so many qualified candidates have the opportunity to be heard at the Reagan Presidential Library," Reagan, the widow of President Ronald Reagan, said.
Besides Jindal, the invited candidates include Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki.
Jindal, whose parents immigrated to the US from Punjab before he was born, is the first Indian-American to ever run for a US presidential elections.
