Eduardo Bolsonaro says Republicans are left-wing

Federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) said, this Friday (11), that the Republicans are a “leftist party”. The caption is home to the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, who was Minister of Infrastructure under former President Jair Bolsonaro, but has been approaching the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

“I evaluate, today, that the Republicans are a leftist party”, Eduardo Bolsonaro told journalists in the city of São José do Rio Preto (SP). And he added: “Wanting to approach Lula at a time like this, playing hardball, changing his members within the CPI [Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito] of the MST without even warning them in advance of this (…) I see it as regrettable and that puts the Republicans on an equal footing with the left parties, I really cannot understand”.

Like the PP, the party of the president of the Chamber of Deputies Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the Republicans have been demanding space within the government in exchange for parliamentary support. On July 31, Minister Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) confirmed that the president will give space to Silvio Costa Filho (Republicans-PE) and André Fufuca (PP-MA) at the Esplanada dos Ministérios.

Eduardo Bolsonaro’s statement follows in the wake of pressure placed on Tarcísio to leave the Republicans. On Wednesday (9), the governor of São Paulo admitted considering leaving the Republican Party if the party decides to form part of the base of the Lula government. “So, I’m against it. For me, I would not like to see my party forming part of the government base. This is something I will evaluate with the party.”, said Tarcísio at an event at the Palácio dos Bandeirantes, seat of the government of São Paulo.

Behind the scenes of the Republicans, parliamentarians linked to Bolsonaro compete with more physiological deputy to block the party’s entry into the PT administration. On the other hand, pressure is growing for right-wing parliamentarians to migrate to other parties, such as Bolsonaro’s PL or Novo.

Other names may leave Republicans

In addition to Tarcísio, senator Hamilton Mourão (RS) admitted the possibility of leaving the acronym, in case it becomes part of Lula’s parliamentary base. This Friday, he said he was uncomfortable with the negotiations of the PT management to assign a ministry to the party. The statement was given during a radio interview. NovaBrasil FM.

“A Republican adhesion to the government would be a hard blow for our voters and for me in particular”, evaluates the senator. He confirmed that he had been asked by the Novo party to migrate, joining the bench formed today only by Senator Eduardo Girão (CE).

Deputy Luciano Zucco (Republicanos-RS), president of the MST’s CPI, may be another name to leave the party. The maneuver made by the party to remove two Republican members from the CPI showed that the party is strongly committed to helping the Lula government.

According to the letter sent to the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies by the leader of the Republicans, Hugo Motta (PB), the deputies Messias Donato (ES) and Diego Garcia (PR) were dismissed from the CPI.