Always discreet, the vice president prefers to ship to a room located next to the presidential office
In his third term as President of the Republic, Vice President Gerald Alckmin once again he declined the invitation made by the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sit in his chair at Palazzo Planalto during the PT trip to China. But Alckmin, who also holds the post of Minister of Industry and Trade, preferred to work in a meeting room next to the presidential office. Still.
During Lula’s first trip abroad in January, Lula insisted that the congressman work from his office, use his desk and sit in his chair, which he says “doesn’t bite, but strokes.” Alckmin replied that he would use the room, but never the chair. And he remembered that he had never used the chair Mario Covas when he, then a toucan, was his deputy in the government of São Paulo between 1995 and 2001. “The chair belongs to the president,” he said.
Lula loves to repeat this story in private conversations and he told it, in a good-natured tone, to the 27 governors before the 1st meeting with the group, which took place shortly after returning from the trip to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, in January.
Keeping his distance from the presidential chair is another of Alckmin’s gestures to demonstrate loyalty and avoid resentment after the traumatic transition between Dilma Rousseff and his deputy, Michael Temerwhich to this day is called a “coup” by the petistas.
The former governor of São Paulo, candidate for the presidency against Lula in 2006 and built his career in the PSDB, has maintained, in these little more than 100 days in office, total alignment with Lula’s agenda and narratives, fulfilling all missions in a disciplined manner assigned to him on multiple fronts. His speeches, even when he is a minister, almost always begin with the preamble “under the leadership of President Lula”.
As acting president, Alckmin fulfilled 53 agendas in the three times the incumbent went abroad. In these passages he took advantage of the official liturgy to caress politicians of the opposition parties who have no bridges with Lula and the PT, as well as meeting the leaders of his party, the Psb.
At a time when Lula’s articulators are trying to consolidate a foothold in Congress and find a balance in the divisions of the Centrão, the interim president has received politicians such as Senators Laercio Ribeiro (PP-SE) and Carlos Vianna (Podemos-MG ), and deputies Fernando Faria (PSD-MG) and Simone Marquetto (MDB-SP).
As vice president, he also received Bolsonarist politicians for coffee, as a deputy Ricardo Barros (PP) and the governors of Rondônia, Marco Rock (UB) and Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello (PL).
In Brasilia’s routine, Alckmin spends the morning in the vice presidential office in a building annexed to the Planalto Palace, and the afternoon works in the Ministry of Development, located in the last block of the Esplanada dos Ministérios.
In addition to building bridges with the business world, especially the agri-food sector, which resists Lula, the vice president joined the defense minister, Jose Mucioin the task force created to facilitate relations with the military.
As coordinator of the Defense Industry Restructuring Program, Alckmin maintains a direct line with the commanders of the Armed Forces, who are requesting funds for the Astros 2020 program – a sophisticated (and expensive) multiple missile launch system.
On weekends in Brasilia, the vice president maintains an old habit: meeting friends and allies in the pastry shops of the region. When he goes to São Paulo, his hobby is another: weeding the land of his farm in Pindamonhangaba.
Source: Terra
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