An aide to outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert charged Kadima leader Foreign Minister with "trying to build her campaign" on his back as the rift between them grows. She told a party caucus Thursday that Prime Minister Olmert must step down following an announcement by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz that he faces indictment for alleged fraud and other violations of the law in the RishonTours double-billing scheme.

Kadima is suffering in pre-election polls, which have given the Likud party, headed by former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu almost 40 seats in the Knesset, the number that the Likud won under the leadership of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.