'Happy' Advani in Gandhinagar to file nomination for 2014 polls

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani on Saturday said he is happy to contest this year's general elections from Gujarat's Gandhinagar constituency.

Advani said his association with Gujarat is not related to elections, but dates back to the days of partition.

"That's not exactly true, though friends from Bhopal asked me to contest from Bhopal also, but I never intended not contesting from Gandhinagar. I am rejoicing about contesting from Gandhinagar. After all, my relations with Gandhinagar and with Gujarat did not start with my contesting from here. They started with the unfortunate aspect that accompanied India's independence, namely partition. After partition, when my father migrated from Karachi, he chose Gujarat, and he chose Kutch particularly, because at that point of time, the people of Sindh decided to have a sea port such as Kandla to replace Karachi and two townships close by were created namely Adipur and Gandhidham. My father settled in Adipur. Of course, my father migrated to Kashi for a brief while till my grandmother was alive, and then, he settled in Adipur. So, this is the background of me and my family's association with Gujarat which has been since then," Advani said.

"It has been excellent, I have nothing to complain about that, and I must thank the people of Gujarat and Gandhinagar. I would also like to thank the media for the kind of support I have received," Advani added when speaking about his feelings on the process involving his nomination.

Earlier, rumours had surfaced that Advani was interested to contest the polls from Bhopal and not keen to contest from Gandhinagar because of his differences with Narendra Modi. Later on, he had to go by the party's decision.