President Dilma Rousseff accuses her deputy of 'conspiring' against her as she fights for her political life

The Brazilian leader is facing possible impeachment proceedings, with the issue creating a rift between her and Vice President Michel Temer

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (EPA)

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has claimed her vice president was orchestrating a conspiracy to topple her, as efforts to impeach the leader gained momentum in the country's Congress.

Aided by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ms Rousseff scrambled to secure enough support from a dwindling array of allies to block impeachment in a lower house vote due on Sunday that many predict she will lose.

A congressional committee voted on Monday by a larger-than-expected margin to recommend that Ms Rousseff be impeached for breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014, a charge Ms Rousseff says was trumped up to remove her from office.

While Ms Rousseff fights for her political survival, her government is largely paralysed as Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy, struggles with a deep recession and its biggest-ever corruption scandal.

“They now are conspiring openly, in the light of day, to destabilise a legitimately elected president,” Ms Rousseff said in a speech late on Tuesday, referring to an audio message sent by Vice President Michel Temer to his supporters on Monday in which he called for a government of national unity to overcome Brazil's political crisis.

The congressional committee's 38-27 decision was backed by Mr Temer's PMDB party, formerly her main coalition ally. The party's defection last month greatly increased the likelihood the lower house will send her impeachment to the Senate.

Mr Temer would take over if the Senate agrees to suspend Ms Rousseff and proceed with a trial against her.

The rift between Ms Rousseff and Mr Temer reached breaking point on Monday after the audio message was released, which Mr Temer said was unintentional.

“The conspirators have been unmasked,” Ms Rousseff said in her speech. She did not mention Mr Temer by name but cited the message as evidence of what she called an attempted “coup.”

In an interview broadcast on Globo News later, Mr Temer responded to Rousseff's remarks saying he was ready to take the presidency. “If destiny takes me to that position... I will be ready.”

Looking relaxed and smiling, the vice president denied he'd been plotting against Ms Rousseff and said he did not plan to resign if the lower house votes against impeachment.

Aides say he has been preparing in case he has to replace her, so that he can restore confidence with a business-friendly agenda aimed helping the economy.

Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa canceled a trip to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington to remain in Brasilia for Sunday's impeachment vote. In its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, the IMF said Brazil's prolonged recession would be a drag on growth in Latin America for the next two years.

Presidential aides said the government was on a razor's edge over Sunday's lower house vote, which will be organised by Ms Rousseff's political rival, Speaker Eduardo Cunha.

“We believe we have enough support, but it's very fluid and we are counting the votes day by day,” an official in Ms Rousseff's office said, on condition of anonymity.

The aide said Lula, Brazil's most influential politician, was leading talks with small parties that are wavering in their support for Rousseff and had offered them government jobs to secure crucial votes.

Negotiations were not easy because they were also talking to Mr Temer's camp, the aide said.

Ms Rousseff suffered a further blowTuesday, as the centrist Progressive Party, or PP, left her government, saying it would abandon its ministerial roles. The party had been an important Rousseff ally and with 49 deputies in the lower house could decide which way Sunday's vote goes.

The party's leader in the lower house, Aguinaldo Ribeiro, told reporters in Brasilia the majority of his party supported impeachment.

Ms Rousseff, whose popularity has crumbled during Brazil's recession and the corruption scandal surrounding state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, said her opponents were undermining Brazil's young democracy by seeking to cut her second term short without legal justification.

“They intend to overthrow a president elected by more than 54 million voters,” she said, adding that impeachment was aimed at rolling back social and economic advances for many Brazilians during the 13 years of government by her Workers' Party.

Reuters