Brazil's Rousseff hit by explosive new accusations

Brazil's political drama took several new twists as a senator accused President Dilma Rousseff of offering hush money to contain a corruption scandal, and her predecessor considered a return to government to help save their careers.
Prosecutors said a senator charged in a huge graft investigation centered on state oil company Petrobras had accused Rousseff of sending a powerful cabinet minister to try to buy his silence.
The senator, Delcidio Amaral of the ruling Workers' Party (PT), told investigators in statements given as part of a plea bargain that Education Minister Aloizio Mercadante, Rousseff's former chief of staff, contacted him via an aide to urge him not to testify.

Amaral, the former party leader in the Senate, said the minister indicated the message came from Rousseff herself -- an accusation the leftist leader angrily denied.
The president "vehemently and indignantly repudiates the attempt to associate her name with the personal initiative of Minister Aloizio Mercadante," her office said in a statement.
As the long-running scandal swirled, administration sources said former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- who is himself facing charges -- was on the verge of taking a cabinet post in Rousseff's administration to try to save the crisis-hit government.

The move, which would be hugely divisive, would amount to a risky bet that the aura around Lula's administration (2003-2011), a period of watershed prosperity in Brazil, still outshines the economic and political mess the ailing South American giant has descended into under Rousseff.

For Lula, it would also have the added bonus of protecting him from prosecution in ordinary court on charges tied to the Petrobras scandal.
Cabinet ministers can only be tried before the Supreme Court in Brazil.
But both leftists will have to be prepared for the likely backlash, at a time when their political stars are waning.
Rousseff is facing an impeachment drive, a deep recession and mass protests, while her mentor's legacy is threatened not only by the charges against him but also by perceptions that his entire administration was underpinned by graft.
Lula arrived in Brasilia late Tuesday, where he met with the president for more than four hours to discuss options. Talks were expected to continue today, O Globo said on its website.

"There are two possibilities for Lula in the government: chief of staff or cabinet secretary," a source in Rousseff's administration told AFP, denying the move was aimed at protecting Lula from arrest.