Ready to be PM but won't take ball away

(ANSA) - Milan, March 26 - Rightwing populist League leader Matteo Salvini said Monday he was ready to be premier but would not "take the ball away" if anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio wanted to be premier instead of him.
    "I am ready but having said that I didn't come into the world 45 years ago saying either I'm premier or I'll get angry and take the ball away from the five-a-side pitch," he said on the Milan council, where he is still a councillor.
    "I'm ready for anything and I'll do anything to bring a programme and a team voted by the Italians into government, but having said that, we'll see over the coming weeks".
    He voiced the hope there would be "points of contact" with the M5S on their respective governing programmes.
    Salvini said the only alliance he could rule out was with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which has vowed to stay in opposition after a crushing election defeat.