Brazil’s president faces revolt by coalition allies

By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) – The rift between President Dilma Rousseff and her main political allies widened on Wednesday one day after they voted in Congress to look into bribery allegations leveled at Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras. They also invited Maria das Graças Foster, the chief executive officer of state-controlled oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA, to answer questions about the allegations that a Dutch company paid bribes to company officials to win contracts for floating oil platforms. The revolt in the ranks of the ruling coalition is led by Brazil’s largest party, the center-right PMDB, which is jockeying for a bigger role in Rousseff’s government and more funds for its members’ districts in an election year. “The government has neglected the allied parties and their leaders,” said PMDB lawmaker Danilo Forte, who proposed calling a party convention to decide whether to end the alliance with Rousseff’s leftist Workers’ Party (PT).