Renzi set to kick off PD leadership (2)

(ANSA) - Turin, March 10 - Ex-premier and former Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi was set Friday to kick off his PD leadership campaign at a three-day PD convention at Turin's ex-Fiat Lingotto conference centre.
    The slogan for Renzi's campaign is "starting again together".
    The event aims to start mapping out a wide-ranging platform ranging from tax policy to relations with the EU on migrants, the budget and other key issues.
    The platform will then be completed by meetings across Italy, Renzi has said.
    PD caretaker leader Matteo Orfini said Renzi had tried to get Italy moving again and now found himself the target of a "very violent media offensive" linked to his father Tiziano's involvement in a graft probe.
    Orfini, a key Renzi backer, said "he now has all the establishment against him", in a similar way to when he started his career with the nickname "Demolition Man', vowing to "scrap" older and allegedly tired politicians. Renzi quit as premier after heavily losing a referendum on his flagship Constitutional reform in December, a reform on which he had staked his political future.
    He stepped down as PD leader last month to trigger a party congress and leadership battle, prompting leftwing dissenters to split and form their own party, the Democratic and Progressive Movement (MDP). Renzi's two opponents for the PD leadership are Justice Minister Andrea Orlando and Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano, both PD heavyweights.
    Orlando has said he will step down as minister if he wins the contest, while both he and Emiliano have said they will try to reunite the splintered centre left.