UPDATE 1-Top German politician backs Arcandor aid - paper

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* Senior Social Democrat supports state aid

* Leading conservative opposes state support

FRANKFURT, May 30 (Reuters) - The head of Germany's Social Democrats, ruling partners with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, has thrown his support behind providing state aid to stricken retailer Arcandor (AROG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research).

But a leading conservative opposed state support for the company, highlighting the rift in Berlin over who deserves a bailout and why.

While requests for state support need to be judged case by case, companies like carmaker Opel GM.N and Arcandor are too important to go bust, Franz Muentefering told the Bild newspaper in an interview printed on Saturday.

"Hopefully this is not controversial for core industries like Opel and we have to help retailer Arcandor as well. We will try," he was quoted as saying.

"The guarantees at stake here strike me as necessary and oriented toward the future. We cannot forget that several thousand jobs -- primarily for women -- in the important services sector are riding on this."