League leader Matteo Salvini on
Friday snubbed Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi saying
he would not have a TV debate with him ahead of the March 4
general election, prompting Renzi to say campaigns without
televised debates were absurd.
Anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League leader Salvini on Friday
said he would not engage in a TV debate with Renzi ahead of the
election.
Salvini said he had been "asking for face-to-face talks with
Renzi for years and he always indignantly refused, and now I'm
supposed to suddenly interrupt my electoral tour to make him
happy - it's too late".
"I'm not going to betray the thousands of voters who flock to
my rallies, who are awaiting me next week in Emilia and Tuscany,
which have been betrayed by the PD.
"I'm looking to the future and I'm not going to waste my time
with someone who's had too much time.
"If Renzi wants a debate I'll see him in a piazza, perhaps in
Bologna where many voters are shifting from the PD to the
League."
Renzi responded to Salvini's snub by saying general-election
debate without TV debates is "absurd".
Summing up "the situation" on Facebook, Renzi said Salvini
did not want to debate him on TV because "he doesn't have time
for TV, he must do rallies in piazzas" while anti-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio doesn't want a debate
"because I haven't got the same status as him, I'm not up to his
level."
Centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi,
meanwhile, "only has debates with (RAI talk show host Bruno)
Vespa and his memories".
Renzi said: "It doesn't change much for us: we will be the
top parliamentary group (after the March 4 elections), the top
party.
"I'm struck by the absurdity of a political debate without TV
debates.
"Welcome to the 2018 Italian electoral campaign".
Di Maio reiterated Friday he would not debate Renzi on
Italian television.
"Not even Salvini finds a debate with the PD leader
interesting.
"Renzi, a man alone with the remote control," Di Maio said on
Twitter, posting a link to Laura Pausini's song La Solitudine
(Loneliness).
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