Imbassahy could arrive at the PMDB in Bahia with the status of an all-powerful figure.
Dismissed by Congressman Lúcio Vieira Lima as a potential candidate for the 2018 elections, the Minister of the Government Secretariat, Antônio Imbassahy (PSDB), may arrive at the PMDB in Bahia with the status of someone who can save the party from ruin. With the second arrest of Geddel Vieira Lima and Lúcio's involvement with the R$ 51 million found by the Federal Police in an apartment lent to Geddel in Salvador, the PMDB in Bahia, led by the Vieira Lima family for over 20 years, was left without a heavyweight name to join the ticket headed by ACM Neto (DEM) for governor of the state in 2018. Imbassahy is expected to arrive at the PMDB with a clear path to run for a Senate seat.
Bahia 247 - Dismissed by federal deputy Lúcio Vieira Lima as a potential candidate for the 2018 elections, the Minister of the Government Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Antônio Imbassahy (PSDB), may arrive at the PMDB in Bahia with the status of someone who can save the party from its predicament.
With the second arrest of the predecessor of the PSDB party member, Geddel Vieira Lima, and Lúcio's involvement with the R$ 51 million found by the Federal Police in an apartment lent to Geddel in Salvador, the PMDB party in Bahia, led by the Vieira Lima family for over 20 years, was left without a heavyweight name to join the ticket that is expected to be headed by Mayor ACM Neto (DEM) for the state government in 2018. Imbassahy is expected to join the PMDB with a stamped passport to run for a seat in the Senate.
A publication in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo says that the minister, a member of the PSDB party, has been invited by parties such as PTB, PRB, and PPS, and has even speculated about returning to the Democrats, his original party (from when it was called PFL). In an arrangement with the approval of President Michel Temer, Imbassahy could be 'the man from the Planalto Palace' to help rebuild the PMDB in Bahia and fill the power vacuum left by the Vieira Lima family.
"Imbassahy has started turning his attention to the PMDB. He thinks that with Michel and (Senator Romero) Jucá (national president of the PMDB) he can overcome Lúcio (Vieira Lima)'s resistance," says the deputy leader of the government in the National Congress, the Bahia state deputy Benito Gama, president of the PTB in Bahia. "He wouldn't move forward with this without Michel's approval," Benito points out to Estadão.
Before his first arrest in June of this year, also as part of Operation Lava Jato, Geddel Vieira Lima was the president of the PMDB party in Bahia (a position he had held with his brother Lúcio for over 10 years) and secretary of the party's national directorate. He requested a 60-day leave of absence after the Federal Police seized R$ 51 million in his 'bunker' in Salvador earlier this month. According to the Federal Police, the bundles of money contained the former minister's fingerprints.
Lúcio dodges the question about the possibility of the minister joining the party. "I'm not in charge of that matter. I wouldn't want to give an opinion and be contradicted." In a recent interview with Tribuna, besides showing total apathy towards the idea, Lúcio guaranteed that his fellow countryman wouldn't have the party's nomination to run for the Senate, because, according to him, there are "plenty of qualified candidates" in the Bahia PMDB, which currently holds the vice-mayorship under ACM Neto.
Imbassahy does not deny the possibility of leaving the PSDB, but maintains that he has not made any move in that direction: "There's no reason to leave now."