Ahmedabad: Days of speculation ended today (Mar 30, 2004), with Congress announcing name of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Minister Gabaji Thakore to contest against Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani from Gandhinagar seat in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Senior party sources said that name of Thakore, who joined Congress last year, was suggested following his "clout" in Gandhinagar district.

Thakore, a Cabinet Minister in Keshubhai Patel ministry, a two-time MP from Kapadvanj Parliamentary seat and three-time MLA from Dehgam Assembly segment quit BJP on an "unhappy" note after being "sidelined" after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi came into power.

Party sources said, "Thakore a popular leader among his community members would give a fitting contest to the DPM in the forthcoming hustings, even though the Gandhinagar seat has been a winning one for Advani in the past three Parliamentary polls."

The Congress has also announced candidature of three time Union Minister of State Yogendra Makwana from Dhandhuka, while also clearing the name of Shailendra Jadeja from Kutch and Jashu Barad from Junagadh, an ex-MLA who lost the Assembly polls in December by a margin of just 600 votes to BJP candidate Govind Parmar.

Makwana had served as Union Minister of State under both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi between 1981-'89 and would contest against sitting BJP MP Ratilal Verma.

With this, the Congress has announced the name of all but two of their candidates who would contest the 26 Lok Sabha seats from Gujarat and are yet to announce names for Mandvi and Mehsana seats.