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COLOMBO, Nov 2 (AFP) - A Sri Lankan naval rating who tried to assassinate former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi has given up contesting elections and decided to support President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party at December polls.

Disgraced sailor Vijithamuni Rohana de Silva, who failed to enter parliament at last year's general elections announced he was now supporting the ruling People's Alliance, a party official said Friday.

He said de Silva pledged to work for the ruling party and had already announced over state-run Independent Television Network that he had defected from his ultra nationalist Sihala Urumaya, or Sinhalese heritage, party.

De Silva slammed the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and accused it of supporting Tamil rebels who are fighting for independence in the island's north-east.

"All these days I was with the SU, but I decided to support the government in order to save the country," de Silva was quoted as saying said.

He said he will work closely with a former minister Jeevan Kumaratunga, a close relative of President Kumaratunga and campaign for the ruling party in general.

De Silva was earlier with another hard-line party, the Bhumiputras or the sons of the soil party, but failed to win any election.

He was sentenced to six years in jail for attacking Rajiv Gandhi with the butt of a rifle while he inspected an honour guard at the end of a 24-hour visit to Colombo on July 30, 1987.

Gandhi was later assassinated in a suicide bomb attack while campaigning at the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu in May 1991.

De Silva was paroled when President Ranasinghe Premadasa came to power in 1989.

He later took up a musical career and used the photograph of himself attacking Gandhi on the cover of his audio cassette to sell his music. His singing career failed and then he ventured into politics with no success there either.

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