Italy seeks to minimise fallout

Rome: Italy's government sought to minimise the political and diplomatic fallout after the resignation of a far-right minister accused of fanning Muslim fury by wearing a T-shirt with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, an outspoken member of the radical Northern League party, quit on Saturday, bowing to pressure from within the ruling centre-right bloc after he was blamed for deadly riots outside an Italian consulate in Libya.

Calderoli caused a storm at home and abroad by appearing on state television in a T-shirt festooned with cartoons of the Prophet that have enraged the Muslim world.

The subsequent controversy has embarrassed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ahead of April elections in which he would like to portray himself to the electorate as a force of moderation within the centre-right.

The opposition, which is ahead in opinion polls but has seen its lead narrow in recent weeks, leapt on the controversy, accusing the prime minister's far-right allies of putting Italians at risk of attacks from militants.

"The Calderoli affair is very serious. It undermines the international credibility of Italy and puts our country at risk of terrorist attacks," said Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio of the opposition Greens party.

"The [centre-right] House of Freedoms needs to decide whether it is a democratic coalition ... or whether it is a dangerous coalition because it has allied itself with neo-fascists and racists," he said.

Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, who alongside Berlusconi slammed Calderoli for printing the caricatures on T-shirts, dismissed suggestions the controversy weakened the centre-right.

"I don't think there will be any consequences for the House of Freedoms," he told a TV programme on Sunday.

But Italian media reported the League was irked by the widespread condemnation from government ranks and would discuss at a meeting of its federal council on Monday whether to pull out of an electoral alliance and run on its own in the polls.

The League has long opposed mass immigration in Italy and its leaders say violence over the cartoons shows the dangers of allowing Muslim immigrants here.

After Calderoli's resignation it has two ministers left in the government.

The latest surveys say it could win up to six per cent of the vote in April, strengthening its role as a kingmaker in Berlusconi's fragmented coalition which is trailing the centre-left by around four percentage points.

"Our alliance with the League stands," said Fabrizio Cicchitto, deputy coordinator for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.

The front page of the League's newspaper La Padania carried a picture of a white T-shirt on Sunday with the words "Let's defend our roots" and a Calderoli article slamming Berlusconi.

"I step aside as a minister, but certainly not as a militant ... and even more so in the face of inexplicable statements by the prime minister who would like to hold me, rather than Islamic fanatics, responsible for what happened," the 49-year old dentist said.