Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's challenger on Tuesday accused him of putting his family ahead of the military after the victory in the civil war, unlike Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who made then Army Chief Sam Manekshaw a Field Marshal following the 1971 triumph over Pakistan.

"After the (Indo-Pak) war, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave a promotion to the Army Commander and made him Field Marshal in recognition," said Sarath Fonseka, who is seeking to unseat Rajapaksa in next months elections.

"She (Indira Gandhi) did not hang the photographs of her family alongside hers and give publicity. She did not try to sell the armed forces to win elections," said Fonseka.

The former top general resigned from the army last month complaining, among various things, about his removal from the army commander (army chief) post and being appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff. "After the war she (Gandhi) devoted her time to developing the country. That was why India developed," he told an election rally in Ambalangoda, 86 kms from Colombo on Monday.

He said it was not his intention to become the executive president "to make merry or for self indulgence and abusing its powers at the expense of the people". "I am an ordinary citizen from Ambalangoda and continued to be so even when I came to Colombo and served as an Army Officer until my retirement," Fonseka was quoted as saying by the Opposition UNP party website on Tuesday.