Berlusconi says Monti plotting with Italy's centre left

Silvio Berlusconi said today that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti was plotting with the left in his centrist alliance's bid to win Italy's national election in February, but centrist leaders denied any secret accord.

Monti, who replaced Berlusconi as prime minister last year when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis, said on Friday he wanted to unite a broad coalition of factions around a reform agenda aimed at easing the country's economic woes.

Monti ended weeks of speculation when he confirmed his bid for a second term, pitting him against the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in a three-way contest.

Speaking to reporters at Milan Central railway station, Berlusconi said Monti wanted to help the left secure power after the Feb. 24-25 election so he could continue his austerity agenda of tax hikes and spending cuts.

"This grouping has been formed to favour the left - also the similarities with the left's programme points in this direction," he said, after earlier describing Monti as "the spare wheel" of the PD in an interview with Vista TV.

The 76-year-old billionaire, who caught the train from Rome with his 27-year-old partner, Francesca Pascale, said he did not believe Italian voters would "fall into the trap", which he said was aimed at stealing votes from the centre right.

But Pier Ferdinando Casini, head of Italy's oldest and largest centrist party, the UDC, which is cooperating with Monti, denied the accusations.

"Our initiative was not born with the support of the PD. It has not been started with a predetermined alliance ... until election day what's important is aiming for the majority," Casini said at a news conference today.