PSDB swaps Eduardo Leite for Nunes in feijoada in SP – 7/15/2023 – Power

At a certain point during the feijoada held by the PSDB in São Paulo this Saturday (15) to celebrate the party’s 35th anniversary, Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) received a wooden toucan in his hands and caressed the miniature before handing it over as an award to a of the militants.

The caption’s mascot was scattered on props in the events hall of a club in Penha (east area of ​​São Paulo) where Nunes walked around receiving membership honors and selfie requests from some of the approximately one thousand participants, eager for a photo with the evening star.

The candidate for re-election spoke in the first person, saying that “we are going to win” the 2024 election for the mayoralty that he inherited from the toucan Bruno Covas, of whom he was deputy until 2021, when the then mayor died. He left the celebration even more convinced of Tucano’s support for the candidacy.

When the feijoada was scheduled, about a month ago, the expectation was that it would serve to bring the toucan militancy in the city closer to the national president of the party, Eduardo Leite. On a trip to the United States for a course on green economy, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul did not show up.

His absence wasn’t even noticed, but the few conversations about politics that the samba group’s loud music allowed to happen somehow involved the figure of the gaucho and his attempt to participate in the direction of the tucanate in São Paulo, today grappling with debates about the alliance with Nunes and other possibilities, such as launching his own candidacy. Leite defends a haughty PSDB.

Host of the party —who didn’t charge for the main course or for water and soda, but sold beer for R$10 and caipirinha for R$20—, Fernando Alfredo said he was confident in confirming his support for the mayor’s reelection and stated that in the municipal directory , chaired by him, only 5% of the members are against it.

“The obvious path is for us to support the continuity of a government of which we are part and to respect what would be Bruno’s will if he were here, since he chose Nunes as vice-president and the natural thing would be for him to succeed “, he said, praising his friendship with Covas for years.

Excited next to Nunes on the stage, Alfredo announced the presence of Ruth Cardoso and was immediately corrected by João Jorge, PSDB councilor in the capital, who noted the confusion between the name of the former first lady, who died in 2008, and that of Rute Costa, colleague of the City Council.

The toucan councilor, also from the pro-Nunes toucan wing, did not even care about the gaffe involving the mention of ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s partner.

“The plate remains ours [PSDB e MDB]”, she defended in her speech, echoing the idea that the right thing is to maintain the partnership, even with the opposing pressures and the fragility after “some seismic shocks”.

Ruth published a message in 2022 that defended a coup against Lula (PT). Acting then as interim president of the City Council, she shared a message after the result of the second presidential round that said: “If he has already been discondemned, he can also be de-elected”.

One of the “white heads” of the enclosure, the militant Maria de Lurdes Silva, 80, flanked Nunes on stage and told the report that she agreed with the support of the PSDB, of which she is one of the founders, for the emedebist.

“As long as he doesn’t ally himself with Bolsonaro or anyone from him”, stressed Lurdinha, who opted for Lula last year “even though she is not a PT” because she considers it preferable to choose “the devil” than vote for Jair Bolsonaro (PL). Nunes negotiates with Bolsonarism and can give the vice to the group.

Speeches into the microphone and around the plastic tables scattered around the hall preached the resurrection of the PSDB as a party of the political center, of balance and moderation.

The diagnosis that the acronym is facing a difficult time for losing the state government after 30 years and being forced to give up launching a candidate for mayor due to the lack of leadership was shared without reservations.

From what has been heard, the others are extreme — more specifically, Guilherme Boulos and his PSOL companions, today seen as the main obstacle to Nunes’ reappointment, because of the candidacy that should have Lula’s support and is treated by the right as the most competitive.

The current mayor attacked his rival and Psolist councilors, for their “irresponsible and mediocre” stance, and warned of the risk of “handing over the city to a trickster, dissimulated, land invader, who disrespects the law and does not maintain order “. Applause followed.

The tone was similar to that of João Jorge, who used the terms invader and extremist against his opponent, who ran in the second round against Covas in 2020 and was elected federal deputy in 2022 after years as leader of the MTST, a movement that enters empty properties. to claim housing policies.

Afterwards, asked about the chances of the composition with Nunes working out, Jorge replied: “If it depends on the bench of the eight councillors, the support is 100% sealed. a selfie near the food line.

The fraternization was made with donations and volunteer work, such as that of the cook Ana Angélica, who to prepare the cauldrons of feijoada and pots of rice, farofa and cabbage said that she arrived at the club at 6 am the day before and worked non-stop. Therefore, she was honored with the wooden toucan.

After inviting Leite to the event, Alfredo had a tambourine customized to give to the party president. The instrument, with an illustration of the animal symbol of the acronym, would allude to the governor’s taste for playing it, as he has already demonstrated in events and videos on social networks.

Who left the party with an identical tambourine —except for the inscription “Ricardo Nunes” in blue— was the mayor, who was urged to “play a samba” to accompany the band, but soon lost interest.

Nothing that would embarrass the municipal president, from whom the public heard the phrase: “I joke that Ricardo only lacks affiliation [ao PSDB]”.

What could be regretted this Saturday, said Marcos Gonçalves, president of honor of Diversidade Tucana (wing of the pro-LGBTQIA+ party), was just Jean Wyllys (PT)’s offense to Leite, on social media, a day earlier. The former federal deputy called the gaucho, who is homosexual, a “homophobic gay”.

“He is a governor and he knows that discontinuing a public policy [como a das escolas cívico-militares, pivô da crítica de Wyllys] harms users. In addition, Jean poses as a role model for LGBT people, as if only what he thinks is right,” he said.

After handing the tambourine to an assistant, Nunes got off the stage and started crossing towards the hall door, hampered by the harassment of the toucan militancy, while the band chanted a famous pagoda: “Raise your head, put your foot down and go in faith / Send that sadness away.”

_{Carolina Linhares collaborated}