A rift in the ruling coalition emerged March 26 when a Liberal Democratic Party ethics panel came out against a proposed legislative measure designed to prevent recurrences of money scandals.

The decision came only one day after a panel from the ruling bloc -- the LDP, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake -- decided to back the measure.

The first panel had decided to propose legislation to prevent influence-peddling by banning lawmakers from receiving money in exchange for pressuring government officials to give favorable treatment when signing contracts and issuing government licenses.

Katsutsugu Sekiya, the head of the LDP panel, said that all who expressed their opinions during the meeting opposed the proposed legislation, saying that most of their political activities would be limited under it.

The LDP panel's decision is likely to anger the SDP and Sakigake, both of which have strongly demanded new ethics laws. The two parties have also said that the proposed legislation would be necessary to recover deteriorating public trust in politics.

But after the LDP panel's meeting, Sekiya seemed unconcerned with his coalition partners' wishes. "If our decision leads to breaking up the current alliance," he said, "it can not be avoided."

The comment is a complete reversal for Sekiya, who was responsible for the coalition panel's agreement 24 hours earlier.