Washington, Mar 26 : Conservatives in America have embraced Louisiana's Indian origin Governor Bobby Jindal as their 2012 GOP hopeful, and he played to the gallery by warning at a Republican fund raising dinner that President Barack Obama is engaged in the greatest expansion of government.

While Obama commanded a national prime time TV audience, Jindal played to the tune of GOP faithful, seeking to rebound from his widely-panned rebuttal of Obama's address to Congress last month. He took repeated pot shots at Obama at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual March Dinner, Politico reports.

"America is now seeing the greatest expansion of government in anyone's lifetime. I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like the Barack Obama from the campaign trail," Jindal said.

Jindal also took on several other issues to please attending party die-hards. Jindal - revisiting an argument Republicans used in the 2008 elections - declared that Democrats were wrong to oppose domestic oil drilling.

He offered searing remarks on education, saying that "the left hasn't had a new idea on education since the invention of the chalkboard."

At times, Jindal sounded like he was leading a pep rally, arguing that the question of whether Republicans wanted Obama to fail was really an intimidation tactic on the part of the Democrats.

"We honestly believe their path has dire consequences for the future of America and nether should you," Jindal said. "I make no apologies for any of these positions and neither should you." (ANI)