`Erotic novel` poses trouble for Silvio

Maria Gabriella Genisi`s 200-page `erotic novel` has caused speculations.

London, July 16: The never-ending saga of sex and the Government of Silvio Berlusconi just got a new twist with a woman claiming that she had an affair with an Italian minister and was offered a seat in Parliament.However as she decided to step on the political stage her lover dumped her and arranged for the seat to be given to another of his mistresses.

Brainchild of Maria Gabriella Genisi, 44, the explosive 200-page “erotic novel” has caused a fever of speculation over the real identity of the minister, reports The Times. Maria said that she wrote The Goldfish Doesn’t Live Here Anymore after being dropped by the People of Liberty (PdL), Berlusconi’s party, as a candidate in last year’s national election. She claims that she held discussions about a safe seat, but was quoted as saying it was given to a top party official’s lover. According to Il Riformista newspaper, Maria decided to write the novel “after I was promised the candidacy and it didn’t happen”. The novel describes a two-year affair between Cleo, a supermarket cashier and single mother, and a government minister called Salvo Toscani, portrayed as a married Catholic who promotes “family values” and displays an “almost religious fidelity to the party leader”. Berlusconi withdrew many of the showgirl candidates; the only one to be elected was Barbara Matera, a former soap opera actress, television announcer and Miss Italy contestant who took her seat this week following his wife’s outburst. ANI