The PL’s internal split has deepened in recent days, with public demands and exchanges of barbs on social media between the former federal deputy, the federal deputy and the former first lady.
The new chapter in the old dispute for influence in the party and the direction of the Bolsonarist right began on the 12th, when Nikolas announced a demonstration for March 1st under the slogan “Out, Lula, Moraes and Toffoli”.
PL deputies from São Paulo, federal and state, reacted and published a new call for protest on the networks, leaving aside and prioritizing the agenda of amnesty and the overturn of the Dosimetry PL veto.
These parliamentarians, more aligned with the hard core of Bolsonarism, also created a WhatsApp group to organize the event on Avenida Paulista, emptying Nikolas’ leadership.
The deputies emulated the behavior of the senator, pre-candidate for the Presidency, who has the agenda of impeachment of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) minister Dias Toffoli, pressured by connections with Banco Master.
“The first call was very clear. Apart from ministers [do STF]apart from Lula. When I saw that there was no mention [à anistia aos condenados por golpismo]it worried me”, he tells Sheet federal deputy Mário Frias (PL), who may receive the support of the Bolsonaro family to run for the Senate in São Paulo. “For me there is no more important issue in Brazil today than [lutar para que] these people [os presos pelo 8 de Janeiro] come home.”
On Friday (20), the discussion heated up when Eduardo stated in an interview that Nikolas and Michelle’s support for his brother’s pre-campaign was insufficient.
“Nikolas and Michelle are playing the same game. You see that one, side by side, shares the other and supports the other on the social network, they just have amnesia there,” he told SBT News. “I didn’t see any support from Michelle, no posts in favor of Flávio.”
This Monday (23), Flávio tried to put an end to the new round of public fights with a publication in which he made fun of neutral language. “Everyone wants to win the argument. But what we need is to win the election! I would like to count on everyone, everyone, everyone, todys and todXs!”, he wrote.
Eduardo once again made public a dissatisfaction that circulates among the group’s politicians and supporters on social media. Those around the president’s son believe that there is an attempt by Nikolas to separate himself from Bolsonaro and prioritize his own engagement and political growth — which is why he took advantage of the news to ask “Out, Toffoli”.
allies of the deputy summarize the criticisms as “pain in the neck” and a dispute for protagonism, especially after the one from Minas Gerais to Brasília against the arrests on January 8th.
They emphasize that the amnesty agenda is included in the protest announced by him, but the opposite is not, as the group did not get involved in Toffoli’s impeachment.
Eduardo also exposed the dissatisfaction he had been dealing with behind the scenes for months regarding Michelle’s lack of support for Flávio’s pre-candidacy. Those around the former first lady claim that with her son’s choice of the former president to run for president – Michelle was treated as a possible vice-president if the governor was the Bolsonarist candidate.
On Saturday (21), one day after the public charge against her stepson, the former first lady published an image on Instagram of banana slices in a frying pan or pot, prepared for her husband, imprisoned in Papudinha. “He loves fried bananas,” he wrote.
Eduardo’s allies interpreted the publication as mockery, as the former president’s son is pejoratively called “bananinha”. The next day, the impeached federal deputy reposted a tweet from a follower: “Continue frying bananas while Flávio and Eduardo are working hard to rescue the country.”
Also on Saturday, after visiting Bolsonaro in prison, Nikolas responded to his supporter’s demands. He said he is used to attacks, defended Michelle and stated that .
On Sunday (22), the most voted councilor in Belo Horizonte, Pablo Almeida (PL), a former advisor to Nikolas, published a seven-second excerpt from a video in which Eduardo denounces what he calls the Supreme Court’s “persecution” against his father.
“You can arrest my father. Maybe you will sentence him to death, I’m sorry. Is it sad? Definitely”, says the former parliamentarian in the recording.
Eduardo’s allies criticized Almeida’s use of the excerpt, stating that it was a misrepresentation of the content to suggest that he does not care about his father.
“Pablo who??? Another 3i: ungrateful, irrelevant and imbecile!!!”, wrote state deputy Lucas Bove (PL) on X.
Deputy Mário Frias tells Sheet who believes that there should be an “institutional punishment” for the councilor. “It was an absurd lack of respect towards a guy who is in exile, without being able to see his father. Low level”, he states.
In response to the publication of the video, former councilor Carlos Bolsonaro (PL) said that the PL is organized in attacking the president’s children in many places. “What is crystal clear is yet another internal attempt to blow up the name of those who helped make the party get to where it is,” he wrote.
State deputy Gil Diniz (PL), Eduardo’s former advisor who is also listed in São Paulo, also stated in X that there is a pattern in PL Jovem of silencing Flávio’s pre-candidacy. “It remains to be seen where the order for such well-coordinated sabotage is coming from!” he said.
Over the weekend there was also a clash between Carlos Bolsonaro and Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the PL. After visiting his father, the former councilor stated on Saturday that Bolsonaro is preparing a message for the Senate and state governments. On Sunday, Valdemar told the Metrópoles portal that “everyone in the party has the right to nominate names for any position.”
Carlos then stated on X that the list is about candidates who will be supported by his father, which does not mean that other actors cannot suggest other names. “It seems to me that things are a little out of place without wanting to! All the pieces seem to fit together,” he wrote. “Leaving the political prisoner isolated and doing what we are seeing in an accentuated way is becoming more… strange every day!”
