PSD doesn't like the offer, but should support Dilma in 2014.
Members of the party created by former mayor Gilberto Kassab considered it wise to maintain an independent stance from the government, deeming the offer to lead only the newly created Secretariat for Micro and Small Businesses too small for the size of their party.
By Jeferson Ribeiro
BRASILIA, March 20 (Reuters) - At the party's Executive Committee meeting this Wednesday, party deputies considered it appropriate to maintain a position of independence from the government, deeming the offer to lead only the newly created Secretariat for Micro and Small Enterprises, which has ministerial status, too small for the size of the party's caucus.
"We are pleased not to participate in petty matters in the government. We were born great and we shouldn't think small," argued Congressman Júlio César (PSD-PI).
The expectation is that the president will appoint a member of the PSD party to this ministry, even though she hasn't yet convinced the party to join her allied base in Congress. The most likely candidate is the vice-governor of São Paulo, Afif Domingos.
The party's president, Gilberto Kassab, downplayed the congressman's criticism, saying that he had not negotiated government positions with the president and that she understood the PSD's stance.
"There was never any negotiation (for ministries), it was just the isolated statement of a congressman who believes the party should remain independent while awaiting the 2014 elections," Kassab told reporters after the Executive meeting.
He further stated that the PSD's entry into the allied base was always more a desire of the government than a wish of the majority of the party. This contrasts, according to him, with the PSD's position for 2014, where the vast majority of regional directorates want to support Dilma's reelection.
SUPPORT FROM MORE DIRECTORIES
At Wednesday's meeting, the state directorates of Pará, Ceará, and Mato Grosso officially endorsed Dilma's reelection. Two weeks ago, the PSD had already formalized this position in Rondônia, Rio Grande do Norte, and Bahia.
Kassab said that this position of support for Dilma will not be reversed until 2014, even though there is still a long time before the presidential election.
"The moment the party makes its position public, it begins to define the direction of its positions in its states; that national position is very difficult to reverse, especially because the political process is very complex, the engineering of alliances and coalitions. And it wouldn't make any sense," argued Kassab.
According to him, the party directorates in São Paulo and Amazonas also have a very clear position, although they haven't officially announced it yet, of supporting Dilma in 2014.
The president has been working since the beginning of the year to get closer to her allies and ensure the maintenance of her broad alliance of 17 parties for re-election.
The changes in the ministries, which began to be announced last week, have the main objective of securing the formal support of these parties, also with an eye on television airtime for the campaign.
Some of the president's moves are also aimed at preventing disgruntled allies from negotiating support for other likely candidates such as Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG) and the governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, who heads the PSB, a historical ally of the PT.
The government's move to get closer to the PSD is also part of this strategy. The party, created in 2011, managed to elect 497 mayors, becoming the fourth largest political force in the leadership of municipalities. Furthermore, the party has a caucus of 48 deputies, smaller only than the PT, PMDB, and PSDB.