Centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein on Sunday ducked a question on Friday's "b**ch" insult from PD bigwig and Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca against Premier Giorgia Meloni as he led a protest of 500 southern Italian mayors against governmentregional autonomy plans accused of further penalizing the already poorer south.
De Luca led a protest near the prime minister's office against the plans for so-called 'diffentiated autonomy' prompting the prime minister to say he should "work instead of demonstrating." The pugnacious governor responded by saying: "Meloni? Without money you don't work. B **h, you work".
The opposition said De Luca should apologize for the insult, but they responded by saying "the only insult pronounced Friday was from Meloni".
Asked to comment on the episode Sunday, Schlein said "thank you,I've already replied on differentiated autonomy".
The PD's silence on the incident has been widely criticized by the right and center right.
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