The Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet (MDB), stated this Friday (30) that she will leave the government by March to contest the elections. Amid speculation about a possible candidacy for the government of São Paulo, she said that she only discussed the Senate race with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), but that she must make a decision with the PT member before Carnival. In the most recent conversation he had with Lula, Tebet stated that he made himself available to the PT member.
“I made myself available to the president. As there were discussions about being a candidate for the Senate, for the government, for Mato Grosso do Sul, for São Paulo, I made it clear: I was going to leave my personal desires aside to attend to a country’s political project. He didn’t answer me what it was, he didn’t tell me where I have to play on this electoral board”, stated the minister. “I placed my political destiny in President Lula’s hands.”
The minister participated this Friday, in São Paulo, in the launch of Insper’s Public Spending Quality Observatory (OQGP). In a press conference after the event, she stated that nothing has been defined and that she will have one more conversation with the president before Carnival to decide which position she will run for.
Opportunity with security!
“In the conversation I had with the president, the first of at least one more that I will have, certainly before Carnival, is that I leave the Ministry of Planning and Budget until March 30th, or whenever the president decides, because the president understands that I am important in the electoral process. We started discussing only my candidacy for the Federal Senate”, said Tebet, leaving it open whether the candidacy would be for São Paulo or for his state, Mato Grosso do Sul. “We did some exercises to see where I can fulfill my mission better. We didn’t close anything, it wasn’t the intention.
Tebet stated that he did not discuss a possible candidacy for the government of São Paulo or a party change. In the minister’s assessment, the State of São Paulo already has two big names, capable of coming out strong in the dispute and taking the election to the second round: Fernando Haddad and Geraldo Alckmin.
