Valdemar: Kassab is on two sides and this will be costly – 09/29/2024 – Power

In the final stretch of the municipal elections, the national president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto (SP), exposed a rivalry with the national president of the PSD, Gilberto Kassab (SP), bringing to light this dispute within the base of the Government of São Paulo and in the alliance for the re-election of Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB).

Valdemar stated on Friday (27) that the São Paulo PL bench is resentful of Kassab for having ceded to the PSD the vice-president of Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) to Palácio dos Bandeirantes, in 2022, without compensation. Now a strong man in the São Paulo government, Kassab did not respond in kind, according to the complaint from Jair Bolsonaro’s party.

The PL president also says that Kassab even invests in mayors of cities with 4,000 voters in an attempt to display political strength with a view to the São Paulo Government.

“Kassab wants to show power. He dreams of being Tarcísio’s deputy [em 2026] to be governor for six months [caso reeleito, Tarcísio se afastaria do governo para disputar a Presidência em 2030]. I find it difficult for Kassab to achieve this project. We are against it,” said Valdemar.

The president of the PL said that his state bench, made up of 19 federal deputies, was upset with Kassab and, therefore, “people want to get back at him.”

Valdemar admits that the PSD will be able to elect the largest number of mayors in the next elections. When analyzing this correlation of forces, he remembers that the PSD occupies three ministries in the Lula (PT) government and Kassab is in charge of the São Paulo Government Secretariat — being responsible for the relationship between Palácio dos Bandeirantes and mayors and deputies, in addition to controlling the budget for amendments and agreements.

Today in the presidency of the Senate, the PSD also governs Paraná and Sergipe.

“Kassab is on both sides. He is on the left and on the right. But this has a price and it will cost him dearly”, criticized Valdemar.

According to Valdemar, the leader of the PSD in the Chamber and candidate for the presidency of the House, Antonio Brito (BA), is already paying a price for the party’s advancement. Former president Jair Bolsonaro offers resistance to Brito’s name due to the fact that Kassab did not support his candidacy for re-election in 2022, opting for neutrality.

“Brito is a great guy. But people get involved because of Kassab”, says Valdemar.

When contacted, Kassab highlighted the importance of moderation so that radicalism does not prevail in the Brazilian political scene. “It is understandable that radicals, on the left and right, do not understand the role of the center. Therefore, radicals”, reacted Kassab, adding that “this intolerance is not reciprocated in the PSD”.

Claiming to be a friend of Valdemar, Kassab also states that the PL was, in fact, rewarded in assembling the ticket around Tarcísio’s name. He recalls that, under the agreement sealed with Valdemar and the Republicans, the PL was responsible for the successful candidacy of astronaut Marcos Pontes for the Senate.

Kassab defended the creation of political alliances. Regarding his attack on mayors of small cities, Kassab said that the PSD seeks to establish itself throughout the national territory. He stated that, in addition to the number of mayors elected, the number of votes obtained in the first round is important to measure the size of the parties.

Survey carried out by Sheet shows that the PSD is the party with the largest number of mayors in Brazil. It has at least 1,040 mayors, an increase of 58% in relation to the result of the 2020 elections. It was in São Paulo that the party made its biggest leap.

The number of mayors multiplied by seven, going from 64 elected in 2020 to 306 among 645 cities. This expansion triggered a reaction from parties that today compete for space in the center.

Valdemar is not the only one bothered. The president of the Republicans, deputy Marcos Pereira (SP), attributed to Kassab his withdrawal from running to succeed Arthur Lira (PP-AL) in the Chamber of Deputies.

“Considering that Gilberto made my candidacy unfeasible, I decided to go that route”, he stated, in an interview with Sheet.