Even under the , the leader of the government in the Senate, (PT-BA), arrives this Wednesday (24) in Brasília willing to convince the president () to keep him in office until at least the beginning of the recess, on July 19.
In conversations with allies, he is accused of having acted in favor of and argues that, therefore, there would be no justification for him to ask for permission from the leadership at this time.
Wagner also states that his removal from office shakes the strategic state in the re-election campaign.
Despite this, Lula’s aides reiterate that the president intends to convince Wagner to hand over the position. Otherwise, he would be forced to remove him.
There is an expectation that Lula and Wagner will meet this Wednesday, but, until the end of Tuesday night (23), the conversation had not yet been scheduled.
The government leader in the Senate has expressed his intention to maintain legal challenges to the operation he was the target of.
The senator’s allies claim that, in his opinion, Lula is misled by the Federal Police. The senator presented a request that Minister André Mendonça’s decision to authorize the search and seizure at addresses linked to him be annulled, with the argument that there were “serious errors that compromise the measure”.
According to allies, Wagner also remembers his more than 48-year friendship with Lula to fuel the expectation of convincing him to continue in his post.
With the president’s approval, ministers and allies launched an operation last week to convince the government leader in the Senate to hand over the position. According to assistants, Lula considers his continued leadership of the government to be unsustainable, but, despite this assessment, he did not intend to remove him. I expected this initiative to come from Wagner himself.
After the senator was the target of a PF operation investigating the case, the assessment within the government was that it would be necessary to shield the president and immediately put an end to this discussion, which interrupted a succession of positive news for Lula.
Emissaries from the PT administration try to convince Wagner that remaining in leadership is what keeps the spotlight on him, which would even make his defense difficult.
On the day of the operation, Lula called Wagner twice. In one of them, the senator recalled the bonds of friendship to affirm that the president knows his story.
Ministers state that this gesture of solidarity by the president should not be understood as a guarantee of maintaining his position as leader, but a sign for Wagner to take on his departure as a personal initiative, under the argument that he needs to dedicate himself to his defense.
According to reports, Lula likes Wagner and does not want to give the impression that he does not trust him, but he was upset by the fact that the senator spoke on his behalf during an interview last week. These statements took the problem into the Palácio do Planalto.
Amid suspicions that Wagner had received amounts linked to Master, from the former banker, the senator even highlighted, in an interview with BandNews TV, Lula’s confidence in his integrity. “He made a point of calling me, expressing solidarity with me,” he said.
