Cláudio Castro wins in the Assembly and has wear and tear with PL – 02/02/2023 – Power

The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), won this Thursday (2) the dispute with his own party for the presidency of the Legislative Assembly. Now, he must open an arm wrestling match that could culminate in his departure from the acronym of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Supported by the governor, state deputy Rodrigo Bacellar (PL) assumed the presidency of the Assembly after becoming the only candidate for the vacancy. He received the endorsement of 56 deputies, while 13 abstained and one was missing.

The deputy would face Jair Bittencourt (PL), whose candidacy was articulated by the president of the PL-RJ, Altineu Côrtes, right-hand man of Valdemar Costa Neto, national president of the acronym. The opponent, however, withdrew the name from the dispute one hour before the voting session, after realizing the unfeasibility of a victory.

The split between Castro and PL-RJ in the dispute occurred because Bacellar, one of Castro’s main allies, formed a ticket in which he left the party out of key posts on the Board of Directors and important commissions, such as Constitution and Justice. .

The party elected 17 of the 70 state deputies, having formed the largest group in the House, and claimed more space.

The PL-RJ then decided to articulate Bittencourt’s candidacy and handed over the three secretariats defined for the acronym in Castro’s new mandate (Agriculture, Education, and Science and Technology). The fate of the posts is still unknown.

Castro unsuccessfully complained to Valdemar about the move. With the victory this Thursday, he must demand control of the PL-RJ to remain in the acronym. The matter will be debated starting next week, after the governor’s trip to Lisbon.

Both people close to the governor and Côrtes assess the chances of Valdemar withdrawing his main ally from the party’s regional command as remote. Castro’s destiny could be the PP or the União Brasil, parties with which he negotiated before deciding to join the PL.

In his speech, Bittencourt stated that the articulation for his candidacy was due to the lack of dialogue. He exempted the governor from responsibility and assured that he will remain in Castro’s base in the Assembly.

“Many tried to convince, in a lying way, that [a candidatura] it was riot. Never was. There was no debate or dialogue. And not from Deputy Bacellar, far from it. Our conscience lacked understanding that Parliament is debate,” he said.

Castro’s movement accentuates his until then gradual departure from Bolsonarism since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in last year’s election.

The governor has been seeking to build bridges with the PT candidate in order to attract investment to the state and guarantee his new management a brand.

An eventual change of party also helps the governor to move away from the political plans of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ). The former president’s son is considering running for mayor of Rio de Janeiro in 2024, a claim that does not have Castro’s support.

An indirect beneficiary of the crisis may be Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD). Castro’s possible separation from the PL makes it easier for the two to come together for a possible alliance in the dispute in 2024, when the mayor will seek re-election. The theme, however, has not yet been placed.

Initially, Castro set up the government by establishing alliances with seven parties in order to structure a coalition to be reproduced in municipal elections throughout the metropolitan region. According to the initial design, he and Paes would be on opposite sides.

Pivotal to the crisis, Bacellar was Secretary of Government during Castro’s first term, which he took over after Wilson Witzel was removed by the STJ (Superior Court of Justice). He became one of the management’s strong men.

The new president of the Legislative is also one of the central points of the scandal of the “secret payroll” of Ceperj (State Research and Statistics Center of Rio de Janeiro).

The Government Secretariat was one of the first to use the cashier payment method, a practice under investigation by the state Public Prosecutor’s Office and the target of an action by the Electoral Prosecutor’s Office requesting the annulment of Castro’s mandate.