The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, (), apologized to the PSD pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, for not having supported him promptly when the party chose the Goiás native to run for the Planalto Palace.
The two had a brief meeting in Porto Alegre at the headquarters of Farsul (Rio Grande do Sul Agriculture Federation) on Tuesday afternoon (9), the first meeting between them since the PSD announcement.
“I was with Governor Caiado today and I took the opportunity, first of all, to apologize for the unintentional rudeness of not congratulating him on his nomination as PSD pre-candidate,” Leite said in a statement on social media.
At the meeting, the gaucho presented a letter to Caiado stating that he wanted to focus on “so many convergences” but cited the amnesty for the 8 de Janeiro defendants as a point of divergence between the two.
“I understand that there is, on the part of Governor Caiado, the true intention of seeking the pacification of the country when dealing with the issue involving the acts of January 8th. This is an objective that we must all share”, said Leite in the text.
“But, honestly, it doesn’t seem to me that national pacification will be achieved with the inauguration of a government having as one of its first acts the granting of broad amnesty to those involved in these episodes. A measure of this nature, right from the beginning, tends to interrupt dialogue with a significant portion of the population, who do not feel represented by this path.”
Also on social media, Leite said that he is ready to help Caiado “in whatever way I can so that we can offer a viable and real alternative against polarization.”
His party had three pre-candidates for President at the beginning of the year. The dispute narrowed down between the people of Goiás and the people of Rio Grande do Sul after the governor of Paraná, Ratinho Junior, until then the favorite in the dispute, announced that he would remain in government and would not run for either the Presidency or the Senate.
Caiado was chosen by Kassab to be the PSD’s pre-candidate for President, to the detriment of Eduardo Leite, who was trying to launch himself as a .
After the choice, Leite published a video stating that he respected the trajectory of his supporter, but regretted the decision. According to him, his name would be the only one in the party in the dispute capable of breaking the polarization.
Leite and Caiado were scheduled to meet this morning at Palácio Piratini, headquarters of the Rio Grande do Sul government, but the meeting was postponed after Leite had a flight canceled due to problems at Congonhas airport (SP).
In a press conference at night at the Freedom Forum, where he was a debater along with Romeu Zema (Novo) and Aldo Rebelo (DC), Caiado said that the gaucho will be on his platform in Rio Grande do Sul and hopes to count on his presence in Brasília if he is elected.
Leite decided to remain in the Rio Grande do Sul government and will not run in this year’s election.
