The governor of Goiás, Ronaldo Caiado, deleted a 2015 post in which he insulted the president of the PSD, Gilberto Kassab, one day after announcing his affiliation with his former opponent’s party. In the publication, the presidential candidate referred to his then rival as a “pimp from Palácio do Planalto”. At that time, the native of Goiás held the position of senator for the DEM, while Kassab was the Minister of Cities in the government of former president Dilma Rousseff (PT).
Caiado’s attack was motivated by the accusation that Kassab was co-opting parliamentarians from other parties into the Liberal Party (PL).
“Kassab is the pimp of Planalto. He acted like this with the PSD and now with the PL”, published Caiado, in January 2015, on the old social network Twitter (currently X).
Opportunity with security!
Asked about past criticisms of the PSD leader, Caiado stated in an interview with GLOBO, on Thursday, that he would not discuss “a footnote in the long political trajectory alongside Kassab, who has been in the pre-campaign for the Presidency of the Republic since 1989”.
“I think the important thing at this moment is to know what Brazil wants, which is not the model that is installed there. The PSD candidate will need to have the courage to face these issues. It cannot be hybrid. Each one has a style. The style of one and the other will be respected, this is not a defect. I will continue (with my position), I had the opportunity to talk about this with President Kassab. And I have made this position clear.”
Caiado’s migration was perceived by different political forces as something that reinforces the tactic of dispersing opposition candidacies to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The objective is to avoid a polarized dispute between Lula and senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), chosen by his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, as his representative in this year’s election.
Continues after advertising
According to the governor, Kassab gave his approval for him to oppose President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in this year’s election.
Electoral challenge
Caiado’s movement also increases Kassab’s political capital, which now brings together three presidential candidates in his party. Kassab is still influential in the management of the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), who was considered as a candidate for President until Bolsonaro’s announcement by his son Flávio.
The trio of PSD governors will have the challenge of attracting strategic segments that supported Bolsonaro in 2022, and that today still show preference for Tarcísio, still seen as the most competitive name against Lula. The movements of Ratinho Jr., Caiado and Leite are especially aimed at the financial market and industry and agribusiness leaders.
