Berlusconi camp tells critical ally to get in line

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi speaks during the 4th Italy-Latin America and Caribbean Conference in Milan December 2, 2009.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian politicians close to Silvio Berlusconi demanded on Wednesday that his main ally explain his comments about the premier acting like an "absolute monarch" and that Mafia allegations against him were an "atom bomb."

Gianfranco Fini, Berlusconi's former foreign minister, is now speaker of parliament's lower house and has been so critical of the prime minister's attacks on the judiciary and parliament that he often appears to be leader of the opposition.

"Our voters have the right to know whose side Fini is on," said Maurizio Gasparri, head of the governing People of Freedom party (PDL) in the Senate, while the Berlusconi family-run newspaper Il Giornale ran the headline: "Fini wants to bury Berlusconi."

Fini, 16 years younger than 73-year-old Berlusconi, once led the modern successor to Benito Mussolini's fascist party. But he has become a moderate who, a decade after calling for the death penalty, now champions gay rights and citizenship for immigrants.

Once considered Berlusconi's heir apparent to lead the PDL -- formed by the merger of Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Fini's National Alliance -- he looks increasingly like a rival instead.

But many on the center right believe Fini has moved too close to the center-left opposition.

WON'T TAKE IT BACK

Fini made private remarks a month ago -- dug up by an opposition newspaper on Tuesday -- including that allegations by a Mafia "pentito" (mobster turned witness) linking Berlusconi to Cosa Nostra bombs in 1993 were "a real atom bomb."

Berlusconi has dismissed the evidence from the "pentito" -- who gives evidence in open court on Friday -- as "unfounded" and he plans to sue opposition papers who reported that he was under investigation and that the Mafia had a stake in his business.

The prime minister, who complains he has been hounded by biased magistrates since entering politics in 1994, was stripped of immunity from prosecution in October and two corruption cases have resumed. One of them is also due to have a hearing on Friday.

Berlusconi responded furiously when Italy's top court took away his immunity, calling the judges and Italy's president communists. Fini tends to defend the institutions and tries to stop Berlusconi passing laws by decree to bypass parliament.

Fini telephoned a television show late on Tuesday to make it clear he believes "Berlusconi has nothing to do with the Mafia."

But he refused to take back his comments about the prime minister's autocratic style, saying Berlusconi "has the right to continue governing because he was given a wide popular mandate, but he must respect parliament and the judiciary bodies."

The opposition Democratic Party, which lost power in 2008 after less than two years, often finds itself in agreement with Fini. PD president Rosy Bindi said Fini merely "said in private what he always maintains in public. I find him coherent."

(Writing by Stephen Brown; editing by Robin Pomeroy)