PSB may relinquish positions and leave Dilma's base.
The party is considering bringing forward the candidacy of Pernambuco governor Eduardo Campos and requesting the resignation of ministers Fernando Bezerra Coelho, of National Integration, and Leônidas Cristino, of Ports; if President Dilma wants to keep them, both would become part of her personal quota; Lula may be called upon to intervene in the dispute.
247 - The presidential succession, which began at least a year earlier, has heated up considerably. In an emergency meeting of the PSB party yesterday, the governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, who heads the party, was pressured by party members to relinquish the party's positions in Dilma's government, formalizing their departure from the allied base. Currently, the PSB holds two ministerial positions: Fernando Bezerra Coelho, appointed by Campos to the Ministry of National Integration, and Leônidas Cristino, brought in by the Gomes brothers from Ceará to the National Secretariat of Ports.
The faction supporting Campos' candidacy is increasingly uneasy with the actions of the PT (Workers' Party) and former president Lula, who, this Thursday, is opening a seminar in Fortaleza to discuss the ten years of PT rule, similar to what was done in São Paulo. This Thursday, Lula will try to obtain the support of the Gomes brothers, who are participating in the seminar, for Dilma's reelection.
And Eduardo Campos' response may be to resign from his positions in the federal government. Read the report below from the Jornal do Commercio, in Recife:
ONWARDS TO 2014
PSB reacts and threatens to leave the government.
In response to what it considers "interference" by the PT (Workers' Party) in internal affairs and an attempt to corner Eduardo Campos, the party is considering approving a resolution calling for the party to withdraw from Dilma's cabinet.
Governor Eduardo Campos (PSB) is considering how to react to what he sees as a siege by the national PT party against his presidential project. The public provocations directed by former minister Ciro Gomes (PSB), his adversary within the party, coupled with the visits that former president Lula (PT) and president Dilma Rousseff (PT) will make to Ceará, a state governed by Cid Gomes (PSB), Ciro's brother, are being seen as an open attempt at intimidation to force Eduardo to declare, now, whether or not he will be a candidate in 2014. As a response, an extreme measure by the PSB is not ruled out: the immediate relinquishment of the positions the party holds in the ministries.
Socialists understand that Lula wants to take Eduardo out of his "comfort zone" and force him to take an early position, either by supporting Dilma's reelection or by launching his own presidential candidacy. The silent movement by PT members to remove the Minister of National Integration, Fernando Bezerra Coelho (PSB), from the party is also seen as another element of this offensive against the PSB.
With the understanding that the election campaign has begun, Eduardo is keeping a close eye on the PT's next moves and may induce his party, of which he is the national president, to approve a resolution favorable to withdrawing from the federal government. If Minister Fernando Bezerra Coelho and the National Secretary of Ports, Leônidas Cristino, do not follow the possible party directive, both would only remain in their positions as personal appointments of the president. Leônidas was nominated by the PSB of Ceará, led by the Gomes brothers.