The confidence vote in Italy’s parliament looms on Wednesday.  And key allies of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are urging their colleagues to defy their own and back the current government led by Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

The divisions in billionaire media tycoon Berlusconi’s conservative PDL party have only grown worse since he pulled his ministers out of the ruling coalition over the weekend and called for new elections.  In a letter to Italian weekly Tempi, Berlusconi blamed PM Letta and President Giorgio Napolitano for failing to stop his impending ejection from Parliament after being convicted of tax fraud and hiring a child prostitute.

“How can anyone be reliable if they allow the main government partner to be politically assassinated by judicial means?” Berlusconi asked about his formerly loyal PDL deputy and secretary Angelino Alfano.

The former Berlusconi protégé Alfano replied, “I am firmly convinced that our party as a whole should vote confidence in Letta (Wednesday).”

Italian Blue Chips were up 2.5 percent on word that Berlusconi might lose and the government will survive.