Roberto De Luca, son of
Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca, on Sunday resigned as
Salerno councillor amid a graft probe that has made his father
furious.
The case has embarrassed the ruling centre-left Democratic
Party (PD).
De Luca Jr called the case, which involves alleged waste
trafficking, "murky and disgraceful".
Vincenzo De Luca, the governor, on Monday said a report on
alleged waste trafficking by Web news site Fanpage that prompted
his son Roberto to quit as Salerno budget councillor was a
"disgrace" and had been trumped up to hurt his party ahead of
the March 4 general election.
De Luca, a senior figure in the PD, said: "This isn't
journalism, it's a national disgrace".
"In these hours," he said, "we are witnessing a campaign of
media and pseudo-journalistic aggression against us on the eve
of a delicate electoral campaign, a Camorra mafia-like and
Fascist thug-like operation starting with waste management."
A PD supporter slapped a Fanpage reporter at the press
conference called by Roberto De Luca on Sunday, sparking
condemnation from other parties, with the anti-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S) in the lead.
De Luca Sr said that Free and Equal (LeU) leader Pietro
Grasso's solidarity with Fanpage reporter Gaia Bozza and his
criticism of "an ugly climate of tension that does no one any
good" were words "to be ashamed of".
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio responded by saying De Luca's words
were "threats" and that he should resign.
"De Luca's threats are absolutely intelerable," he said.
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