Italy's centre-left Democratic Party cannot dialogue with the populist Five-Star Movement - Italy's biggest party after the inconclusive 4 March national election - its acting leader Maurizio Martina said on Friday.
"Five-Star's chief whip in the Senate (Danilo Toninelli) claims that the Democratic Party is responsible for the political failure of recent years," said Martina.
"Enough of this ambiguous logic, as if programmes for government and ideological coherence count for nothing."
"They (Five-Star) should state clearly if they are capable of assuming any kind of responsibility towards the country," Martina concluded.
His comments came after Toninelli told state broadcaster RAI 3's Agora chat-show: "The Democratic Party is to blame for the failure of the policies of the past five years and for approving an electoral law that led to this mess."
Five-Star and the far-right League, leader of the centre-right coalition which emerged as the biggest group in the hung parliament, are laying claim to a first bid to form a government.
Five-Star is willing to govern with the Democratic Party, which has ruled Italy since 2013 and has the numbers in parliament to be the kingmaker for a centre-right or a Five-Star government. But the Democratic Party has so far vowed to go into opposition after it came third in the March vote - its worst-ever election result.
Matto Renzi resigned as secretary of the Democratic Party a day after the March poll. A new party leader has yet to be elected.
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