By JOHN LYONS
SAO PAULO, Brazil—President Dilma Rousseff replaced her fourth cabinet minister in three months on Thursday amid a cascade of scandals that have hobbled her eight-month-old government.
The disarray has reached such a level that many analysts here now expect Ms. Rousseff's predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to return and run for president in her place in the 2014 election.
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European Pressphoto Agency Mr. Rossi, left, who has resigned, with Ms. Rousseff in January.
Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi resigned late Wednesday after federal police began investigating allegations that cash kickbacks were so widespread at the ministry that they were doled out by a man who strolled the halls with an airplane carry-on wheelie bag, allegedly full of cash.
Ms. Rousseff named a little-known lawmaker, Mendes Ribeiro, to the post.
Mr. Rossi has denied knowledge of kickbacks and other allegations against him, and has said that free rides he accepted on a corporate jet didn't break ethics rules. He says he is the victim of a plot to destabilize Ms. Rousseff's government.
Though Mr. Rossi has provided little evidence to support his plot claims, the presidency is clearly in trouble. Four ministers have departed since June, when Chief of Staff Antonio Palocci resigned. Transportation Minister Alfredo Nascimento stepped down a few weeks later. Both faced corruption allegations.
Further, Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim was fired this month after saying in interviews that he had to tolerate "idiots" in the government, where Ms. Rousseff's two most senior aides were alternately "weak" and clueless.
"The pile up of allegations is out of control," said Roberto Romano, an expert on politics and ethics at Brazil's Unicamp University. The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper warned Thursday of specter of "instability" forming around the Rousseff government.
It is not clear where the recriminations will stop. Ms. Rousseff is under attack for keeping Tourism Minister Pedro Novais in his job after federal police this month arrested 36—including Mr. Novais' top aide—in a scheme to embezzle ministry funds through fake organizations.
The scenario has become so grave that some here are already calling Ms. Rousseff a lame-duck, even though she has more than three years to go on her term. The probability is rising, analysts say, that Ms. Rousseff will step aside to allow her predecessor and mentor, Mr. da Silva, to run again in the 2014 election.
Ms. Rousseff has not addressed re-election plans since the scandals broke. But Ms. Rousseff's own communications minister suggested this week that Ms. Rousseff might not run again.
Mr. da Silva, who was ineligible to run for office in 2010 after serving two terms, tried to quell the talk on Wednesday, saying it's "crazy" to discuss the next election now.
Senior Rousseff officials said Ms. Rousseff has spent recent days in a flurry of meetings with political allies to contain the crisis.
Speaking off the record, the officials describe the various scandals as isolated incidents that are not getting in the way of government work, such as introducing measures to fight inflation and building infrastructure such as ports and roads to spur growth.
One senior official described the process as a "clean up" that could decrease the level of government corruption. "This may be a good thing," said the official, who declined to be named. He noted that her personal approval ratings are still high at around 67% according to recent polls.
Allegations of widespread government corruption are nothing new in Brazil, dating back at least to charges of rampant over-billing during the 1950s construction of its futuristic capital, Brasilia.
Mr. da Silva faced charges his government made monthly pay-offs to legislators during a first term.
The problem, analysts say, is that Ms. Rousseff, a career bureaucrat in her first elected job, lacks the political skills to prevent the daily fare of corruption allegations from ballooning into full blown scandals that end up bringing down senior officials.
The parade of scandals has paralyzed the government as lawmakers and senior officials spend their time avoiding the latest controversy – and wondering who might be the next to fall. It's also inflamed party rivalries in Ms. Rousseff's political coalition, making it nearly impossible for Ms. Rousseff to push any big legislation through Congress.
"The climate here in Brasilia is tense, with everyone just waiting for the next set of allegations to hit," said Andre Cesar, a Brasilia based political consultant. "The situation is very bad, the government is on the defensive, and [Ms. Rousseff] needs to react."