Bossi's broadside against Salvini: 'The League needs a new leader'

Umberto Bossi's lunge against Matteo Salvini. The founder of the Carroccio is shooting off his mouth at the celebration in Gemonio for the 40th anniversary of the League. The stinging criticism was levelled at the deputy prime minister and Minister of Infrastructure in front of a chocolate cake, a tribute from a hundred or so Leghisti for the Senatur. 'I don't think Matteo Salvini has shown attention to the northern question, but we need to go in that direction. We need someone who embraces the issue and pursues it with determination'. But Salvini's reply was not long in coming. 'I have been used to Umberto Bossi's criticisms for thirty years, I also talk about them in my book that will be published at the end of April. I scan them with attention and gratitude, I only reply that seeing him healthy is the best gift for this party'.

No discount from Bossi to Salvini, therefore. And, when someone asks him if the alternative could be Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, his answer is crystal clear. 'He's a good one, I won't tell if I don't they'll slaughter him'. He then adds: 'I heard him last night, today he is in Luxembourg, he will be back tonight'. As for Salvini, he says: 'I haven't heard from him. I have to tell the truth,' he adds, 'I expected him to appear without saying anything.

In Gemonio there are a hundred or so Lega members to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the League. In attendance are Roberto Castelli and Paolo Grimoldi together with the other founder of the Lombard League, Giuseppe Leoni, as well as the former Honourable Dario Galli. In the town in the province of Varese, people arrived from Lombardy, but also from Umbria and Marche, to pay their respects to Bossi who, with his son Renzo, received those present outside his home. And, among them, the broadsides against Salvini were diverse. 'Salvini is a traitor, for twelve years the League no longer exists. Salvini has betrayed all our ideals,' attacks Modesto Verderio, Bossi's first driver and one of the first militants of the League.

The founder also dwells on the choices made by the Meloni executive. 'It's a government that unfortunately doesn't have money and so without money it's difficult to do many things. When you govern, you have to give results, and that is very difficult,' the Senatur clarified, speaking to reporters outside his home.

Before Salvini's reply, a defence had come from his entourage. From Salvini's entourage, however, the reply signed by the deputy secretary, Andrea Crippa, was not long in coming. "Matteo Salvini is the one who led the League to 35% and to being central on the Italian and European chessboard. It is thanks to him that today the League is a party that can determine the future of Italy and Europe. Umberto Bossi founded the League and without him it would not exist; without Salvini the League would not exist'. I believe, Crippa adds, 'that the figure of Salvini is unavoidable. If he runs, I will vote for Salvini at the party congress with conviction because his project is a winner. In a few weeks, among other things, we will vote on autonomy, which will bring benefits to the North, the Centre and the South. I do not understand what the alternative project to Salvini's could be. Apart from the leadership, I do not understand what an alternative project could be: maybe there is one but they have to explain it'.