Kassab's intervention creates two losses for the PSD.
Senator Kátia Abreu (TO) says she will open a dissenting faction within the party if support for Patrus Ananias (PT) in Belo Horizonte is confirmed, as decided by São Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab; former congressman, former minister, and current national vice-president Roberto Brant goes further and announces his resignation.
Minas 247 - Barely created and in its first election, the PSD of São Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab is already facing its first serious internal crisis. Its origin is Belo Horizonte, where the party is at an impasse over supporting its two main candidates: former minister Patrus Ananias, from the PT (with the support of the PMDB), and the current mayor, seeking re-election, Marcio Lacerda, from the PSB (with the support of the PSDB).
Everything seemed to be on track when, last Wednesday, the national president of the PSD, the mayor of São Paulo Gilberto Kassab, announced his support for Patrus. The operation was aided by President Dilma Rousseff, who spoke with Kassab and asked for his support for the Workers' Party candidate. José Serra, a member of the PSDB party and candidate for Kassab's seat this year (with the support of the São Paulo mayor), also assisted in the operation – Serra is an internal rival of Senator Aécio Neves within the PSDB.
The Minas Gerais delegation of PSD (Social Democratic Party) deputies did not accept Kassab's action, classifying it as an intervention. But the peak of the conflict in the new party came this weekend. Senator Kátia Abreu, from Tocantins, one of the founders and among the main leaders of the PSD, announced that she will declare a dissenting opinion if support for Patrus is confirmed. "If the intervention in BH (Belo Horizonte) occurs, I will declare a dissenting opinion," she says.
The PSD is registered with the Regional Electoral Court (TRE) in both coalitions, the one led by the PT and also the one led by the PSB. The dispute will likely be decided by the electoral court, but the trend is towards supporting Patrus, since he came from the party's national executive committee.
Kátia Abreu denied that she might leave the PSD because of this, although she says she will fight for "party democracy." The same cannot be said of the party's national vice-president, former federal deputy and former minister Roberto Brant. Claiming that Kassab's actions were a "truculent act," he left the party leadership and announced his resignation from the PSD. "How can the mayor of São Paulo land in Belo Horizonte to interfere in Minas Gerais politics?" Brant questioned. "I was hurt and wounded as a Minas Gerais native and PSD leader because I wasn't listened to, and BH is not a bargaining chip."