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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Weekend Edition Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Japan PM critics may leave caucus, party rift grows Reuters - Friday, February 18 Send IM Story Print By Yoko Kubota TOKYO - Sixteen critics of unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Thursday they would leave the ruling party's lower house caucus, widening a party rift and casting doubt on bills underpinning a workable budget. The lawmakers, who submitted a request to the Democratic Party of Japan to leave the caucus and start one of their own, criticised the premier's call for tax reforms, including a possible rise in the 5 percent sales tax. Their departure coincided with publication of an opinion poll showing the government's popularity plunging to a new low, boosting speculation Kan may quit or call a snap election. "The Kan government has thrown away its promises to the people and the manifesto," Koichiro Watanabe, who heads the group, told a news conference. "The Kan government, which repeatedly revises policies arbitrarily, has no legitimacy." The group includes backers of party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa. But they denied their departure was a response to the DPJ's plan to punish the former party leader over a funding scandal for which he has been indicted. Ozawa has denied wrongdoing. DPJ executives proposed this week suspending Ozawa until the conclusion of his trial, prompting protests from his supporters. Party Secretary General Katsuya Okada said the group should reconsider its plan. "It's clear that they cannot leave the caucus as long as they are members of the party," he told reporters. "I would like them to think it over again." The DPJ caucus has 307 seats in the 480-member lower house. BICKER BICKER Bickering over the handling of a scandal over suspected misreporting by Ozawa's political funds body, along with the DPJ's flip-flops over campaign promises, have driven down Kan's support to a level that has forced other premiers to step down. The real motive behind the group's move was to force Kan to resign, NHK public television said. A former cabinet minister in the DPJ has also blasted Kan in a magazine article soon to be published in which he calls for the government to be brought down, the Asahi newspaper reported. A survey by Jiji news agency showed that support for Kan's government has fallen to a new low of 17.8 percent. The issue of whether and how to reprimand Ozawa has also distracted the government from focussing on problems such as a public debt nearly twice the size of Japan's $5 trillion economy. With the row in his party deepening and opposition parties unwilling to help, the outlook is increasingly bleak for Kan to secure passage of bills related to the $1 trillion budget for the year from April 1. Watanabe, leader of the breakaway lawmakers, said his group had yet to decide if it would back the bills. "The preferred scenario in the DPJ now is for Kan to quit in return for passage of the budget-related bills after the legislation fails to be enacted by the end of March," said political commentator Hirotaka Futatsuki. "That way, they can avoid an election and hope the situation changes under a new PM." The budget can be passed by the DPJ-controlled lower house. But to win approval for enabling bills, the DPJ must either woo enough opposition votes in the upper house for a simple majority or secure a two-thirds lower chamber majority to override the upper chamber. But the New Komeito, the second-biggest opposition party whose votes together with the ruling bloc's would be enough to clear the opposition-controlled upper house, is taking a tough stance. And a tiny former coalition partner is also driving a hard bargain in return for its backing in the lower house. Whether the lawmakers would vote against the bills in the end is unclear, as doing so would risk expulsion from the party, whose backing they would need in future elections. But the defection adds to voter doubts about the DPJ's ability to govern. Group members said they had no plans to leave the DPJ. "This gives voters the impression that the Democratic Party is a mess," said commentator Futatsuki. 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