Rome (dpa) - Former Italian premier Matteo Renzi was under pressure Thursday to ditch an embattled close ally, with an influential liberal newspaper warning that his centre-left Democratic Party (PD) risks a rout in next yearlsquo;s elections.Renzilsquo;s long-time ally Maria Elena Boschi is accused of meddling in the crisis of a local bank, Banca Etruria, in which her father served as deputy chairman. Despite her alleged efforts to protect the bank, it was declared bankrupt by Renzilsquo;s government in 2015. Calls for Boschilsquo;s resignation as cabinet undersecretary - a senior government post - have grown in the wake of a Wednesday parliamentary hearing in which the former head of Italylsquo;s biggest bank, UniCredit, confirmed that she contacted him about Etrurialsquo;s rescue.That she "went to talk to Unicreditlsquo;s chief executive asking him to save the bank in which her father was an administrator is very serious," the leader of the opposition Five Star Movement (M5S), Luigi Di Maio, said at a rally near Naples on Thursday.In an interview with the La Stampa daily, Boschi said she did not exert "pressure," but simply sought "information" about a possible takeover of Etruria by UniCredit. "There is an enormous difference," she insisted.La Repubblica, Italylsquo;s main centre-left paper, chastised Renzi for continuing to protect Boschi, and, in a front-page editorial, said she should be excluded from next yearlsquo;s elections "to contain the damage."Next week, parliament is expected to be dissolved and elections scheduled for March 4. In polls, the PD is slipping further behind the M5S and a conservative alliance fronted by former premier Silvio Berlusconi.
