The move is likely to increase tension within the party amid speculation a split could be on the horizon.
There is friction over mooted changes to the movement’s statute that would eliminate the rule stopping M5S’s elective representatives from serving more than two terms.
Grillo has said that the two-term rule must not be changed and neither can the movement’s name or symbol.
“It is not a Grillo-Conte issue, but a Grillo-community issue,” ex-prime minister Conte told an event in Rome organised by daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.
“It is a political and legal principle.
“I will never accept being in a community where there is a subject who is above the community itself.
“It is an undemocratic principle.
“If this principle prevails - and I do not see how it can prevail - I could not be involved.
“I continue to respect his (Grillo’s) role as founder, but evidently the recipe no longer works,” he continued, possibly referring to the M5S’s poor recent electoral performances.
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