At the start, Patrus praises Tancredo and criticizes his grandson.

Minas 247 - The candidacy of former minister Patrus Ananias for mayor of Belo Horizonte, decided at the last minute by the PT (Workers' Party), will have the overwhelming support of the PT's militants, who have been neglected in recent years. At the campaign launch, a group of members squeezed into the PT's municipal headquarters in the Lourdes neighborhood. They listened to speeches by Patrus himself, the national president of the PT, and supporters from other parties. They also didn't try to hide their opinions, expressing themselves through war cries, enthusiastic applause, and boos.

“Patrus is back!” was the most common cry from the activists who attended the event. Besides the candidate registered on Thursday at the Minas Gerais Regional Electoral Court (TRE-MG), the most celebrated was the vice-mayor, Roberto Carvalho. Whenever his name was mentioned in a speech, the applause was loud. PT activists credit Carvalho with launching the party's own candidacy, against the initial idea of ​​supporting the re-election of Mayor Marcio Lacerda (PSB). The vice-mayor, who has been at odds with Lacerda since last year, is the president of the PT in Belo Horizonte, which met last Saturday and opted to break with the PSB and launch Carvalho's candidacy – which he later withdrew to support Patrus.

The PT candidate was visibly emotional. In his speech, he recalled the unity of the party's factions – something rare in the recent history of the PT in the Minas Gerais capital – and did not spare criticism of the PSDB senator Aécio Neves, the main supporter of his opponent. “The grandfather is greater than the grandson,” said Patrus, referring to former Minas Gerais governor Tancredo Neves and Aécio Neves. “And Tancredo is PMDB, he is a historical MDB member, who is with us, and not with his grandson's candidacy.”

It is already possible to see that the PT and the coalition supporting Patrus will try to take the campaign in a more political direction, attempting to portray it as a dispute between left and right – the opponent Lacerda, logically, would be part of the “right,” from the PT's perspective.

This was also demonstrated in the speech by the national president of the PT, Rui Falcão, who was present at the event in Belo Horizonte. “On the day of the break (Saturday), I received a text message from Lacerda justifying that the agreement would not be possible because the PSDB did not accept the PT's conditions,” said Falcão. “But we didn't have a deal with the PSDB, we had an agreement with the PSB, which betrayed us. And in politics, one doesn't forget a betrayal.”

Roberto Carvalho, confirmed as the general coordinator of the campaign, was forced at one point to intervene, asking the protesters not to boo anyone. The boos were directed at the state president of the PT (Workers' Party), federal deputy Reginaldo Lopes, and the Minister of Development, Fernando Pimentel – both were the biggest supporters of the alliance with Lacerda and, on Saturday, even attended the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party) convention. “Now is not the time for booing. Now is the time for unity,” said Carvalho.

Patrus himself tried to smooth over any friction with the group linked to Pimentel. "Everyone knows about the disagreements I had with Pimentel," said the Workers' Party candidate. "But now that's over. Pimentel played a crucial role in bringing the PMDB and other allies to our side."

The biggest surprise of the PT rally came from the PMDB. Federal deputy Leonardo Quintão, linked to Governor Aécio Neves, gave a fiery speech. “Today is a day of rest,” said Quintão, who withdrew his candidacy, launched by the PMDB also on Saturday, to support the PT. “But from tomorrow (Friday) onwards, it’s time to work 24 hours a day for victory.”