Doria goes on a forgiveness tour and meets 4 former enemies – 12/07/2023 – Power

This week, former governor João Doria recorded a series of meetings with former political opponents — the “forgiveness tour” included Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), Andrea Matarazzo (PSD), Bruno Araújo (PSDB) and Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB).

The former tucano posed smiling next to the names with whom he had had disagreements, in episodes that marked his gradual isolation in the PSDB, which ended with his withdrawal from running for President of the Republic and his disaffiliation, in October 2022.

Since then, Doria has returned to dedicate himself to Grupo Lide, an entity that brings together businesspeople and of which he is the founder.

When questioned by the report, he stated that the approach with several opponents in a few days was not planned and that the meetings were due to the events of the Lide. “I’m zen, peace and love,” he joked. Past conflicts would not have been mentioned.

The former governor also says that he does not plan to return to politics despite remaining in the spotlight and going behind the scenes of power because of his activity in Lide.

Former governor Rodrigo Garcia, who was Doria’s deputy, was one of the speakers at the Lide Justiça Seminar, held this Thursday morning (7), in São Paulo.

On Wednesday (6), Doria was with former PSDB president Bruno Araújo and former secretary and former councilor Andrea Matarazzo at the world meeting of Lide units, in São Paulo. Araújo is a partner at Lide in the United Arab Emirates and Matarazzo, in Italy.

The meeting with Alckmin was on Sunday (3). The current vice president and former governor was at Doria’s house for more than two hours. According to Alckmin’s allies, the meeting was requested by Doria, who said he had discussed the economy with his former political godfather.

Remember Doria’s disagreements with each politician.

Geraldo Alckmin

The then governor Geraldo Alckmin was the main sponsor of Doria’s entry into politics and was his ally in the PSDB, defending his name in the Tucana elections for São Paulo City Hall in 2016. The first fights between them began the following year, when Alckmin he was the party’s presidential candidate and Doria began to prepare for the national election with a series of trips around the country.

In 2018, the distance between them increased. Doria was elected to the Government of São Paulo campaigning alongside Jair Bolsonaro (PL), something that Alckmin disapproved of.

After the first round, at a meeting of the Tucano leadership, Alckmin, then president of the party, told Doria: “I am not a traitor”, in an episode that became a milestone in the deterioration in the relationship between the then Tucanos.

The break, however, came later, in 2021, when Alckmin intended to run for the Government of São Paulo with the PSDB and Doria joined his then vice-president, Rodrigo Garcia, with the party to run for Palácio dos Bandeirantes.

In December 2021, Alckmin left the PSDB after 33 years and, in an attempt to be a candidate for vice president on Lula’s (PT) ticket, ended up joining the PSB.

Andrea Matarazzo

It was during the preliminary process for the São Paulo City Council, in 2016, that Matarazzo broke with Doria and left the PSDB, a party he had been part of for 25 years. He abandoned the preliminary process and declared that continuing to compete would be “legitimizing a fraud”.

“There is no room for me in a party that supports vote buying, abuse of economic power and the type of maneuvers they carried out,” he said at the time.

Doria defended himself and denied irregularities in the elections — he ended up elected to the mayor’s office in the first round.

Matarazzo, in turn, joined the PSD. Currently, he has once again become closer to the PSDB and was approached by the party to be a candidate for mayor of the capital next year. As shown by Sheet, the tucanos are divided between launching their own candidacy or supporting Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB). Another option considered is to support Tabata Amaral (PSB).

Bruno Araújo

Bruno Araújo was elected president of the PSDB in 2019, with Doria’s blessing, but later became one of the main executioners of the then toucan’s presidential candidacy in 2022. Behind the scenes, Araújo was one of those responsible for the sewing that resulted in the launch of the candidacy by Simone Tebet (MDB) instead of Doria in the so-called third copy.

A series of stumbles in Doria’s articulation within the party ended up alienating allies, but the episode that marked the separation was a dinner organized by the then governor, at Palácio dos Bandeirantes, in February 2021, in which allies suggested that he take over the party in place of Araújo, who was also at the table.

From then on, Araújo gave space for Eduardo Leite, governor of Rio Grande do Sul, to establish himself as an internal opponent of Doria and compete in presidential elections against the São Paulo native. Even with the victory in the caucuses, Doria’s candidacy was discredited in the party and was not defended by Araújo.

In 2022, Doria even invited Araújo to coordinate her presidential campaign. A second event, however, caused the relationship between them to deteriorate. The then president of the PSDB stated at a dinner with businesspeople, in April of that year, that the party would not have a candidate for president, an audio that was leaked and reached Doria.

Doria removed Araújo from coordinating the campaign, and the toucan published on the networks, in a mocking tone: “Phew. Command that I never made a point of exercising.”

Rodrigo Garcia

Doria did not break with his deputy and successor in the Government of São Paulo, but the alliance had ups and downs. As he showed the Sheetthere was a tough discussion between them, in March 2022, when Doria threatened not to leave the position to her ally and not run for President, but ended up backtracking.

Rodrigo’s interlocutors believed that his proximity to Doria was damaging the image of the toucan, who ended up not being re-elected in 2022. Therefore, they kept their distance during the electoral campaign.

When, in the second round, Rodrigo supported Jair Bolsonaro, whose rival Doria became during the pandemic, the former governor said he disagreed.

“I respect Rodrigo’s position. But that’s not my position. Although I disagree, I don’t feel comfortable criticizing Rodrigo, who has full autonomy. But I personally have a different view,” Doria told Sheet.