Armin Laschet - the Christian Democrat (CDU) leader bidding to take over as chancellor from Angela Merkel following September elections - expressed indirect criticism on Monday of a controversial CDU conservative.
Referring to remarks on alleged left-wing tendencies in public service broadcasters by CDU right-winger Hans-Georg Maassen, Laschet told a closed meeting of the CDU in Berlin that "debates like this harm us," according to participants.
Maassen, a former head of the domestic intelligence agency, has been selected as the CDU candidate for a constituency in southern Thuringia in the upcoming elections.
Speaking to dpa on Monday, he called for public broadcasters to show their commitment to the German constitution. "For years it has been known that there are journalists who have links to Antifa (the leftist antifascist movement) and possibly still have," he said.
Suspicions of this nature had to be cleared up, he said.
Speaking to a Berlin broadcaster earlier, Maassen said he perceived a lack of balance in the reporting. "I see a clear leftist twist," he said.
Laschet had come under criticism from other parties for failing to respond to the increasing controversy around Maassen, as electioneering gradually gets under way.
"The party membership has decided in Thuringia. The constituencies take their own decisions," he said in remarks published earlier on Monday.
Friederich Merz, a prominent CDU member whom Laschet beat for the party leadership early this year, called over the weekend for CDU members to shun an ultra-conservative grouping called the Werte-Union (Values Union), to which Maassen has been linked.
The grouping sees itself as representing the conservative wing of the alliance of the CDU and its Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), but has no official status.
Many CDU leaders believe the Werte-Union is tearing itself apart following the election of right-wing economist Max Otte as leader. Maassen himself has since distanced himself from the grouping.
"I believe we should pay no further attention to them," the CDU's deputy head and state premier of Hessen, Volker Bouffier, said.
Germany goes to the polls on September 26 with the CDU/CSU well ahead in recent polls, although also well short of an overall majority. Merkel resigned as CDU leader in late 2018 and made clear she would not continue as chancellor after the elections.
