Ahmedabad (PTI): Leading danseuse Mallika Sarabhai on Thursday declared that she will be contesting Lok Sabha polls from Gandhinagar where the BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani is seeking re-election.

Ms. Sarabhai said that she will be a "people's candidate" and representative of "friends for democracy." "I stand as a Gujarati and a patriotic Indian to reclaim politics back from politicians. I am not a third force but I have an alternative view of politics which wants to claim democracy back for the people," she told reporters here.

When asked why she chose Gandhinagar to contest the polls, she said,"I am a local person and I am here to fight local problems. I am grounded. I want to return to my constituency the gift of identity and community it has given me."

"I am standing from Gandhinagar but I think I also represent the women of Mangalore, who were attacked by the Hindu fundamentalists, the peasants of Nandigram, the farmers of Yavatmal and the victims of Kandhmal," she said.

She said in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi had asked her to contest the polls on Congress ticket and since then she was offered tickets by various parties on many occasions.