Mônica Bergamo: Tarcísio denies being a ‘traitor’ and tells businessmen he will go with Bolsonaro ‘until the end’

Target of criticism from allies of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and branded a traitor in private conversations, former Minister of Infrastructure and candidate for the Government of SP Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) said on Tuesday (9) that he is not hiding the president in his campaign and that he will be loyal to him “until the end”.

The statements were made at a dinner he had with businessmen, promoted by the Esfera Brasil group. At the meeting, he was asked about the attacks he has been receiving from the Bolsonaristas themselves.

“Do you think I’m going to hide Bolsonaro in the campaign? I’m going to show it and speak loud and clear to anyone who wants to hear: ‘I’m Bolsonaro’s candidate in São Paulo!'”, said the former minister to businessmen.

Tarcísio said he learned in his 17 years in the Army the value of loyalty and gratitude. And that Bolsonaro opened a door for him that no one else would do.

“I was a technician, I had no political party and this guy bet on an unknown guy to be a minister. This guy valued me, gave me conditions to work. I will be loyal to him until the end”, declared the former minister.

Such as Sheet revealed, a part of the president’s surroundings have branded the former owner of Infrastructure as a traitor, accusing him of trying to secure himself as the successor of bolsonarismo in the race for the 2026 Plateau.

The complaints against Tarcísio have led these Bolsonaristas to say behind the scenes that they will work for the current governor and candidate for reelection, Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB).

Today he tries to present himself as an independent, but the diagnosis is that, in an eventual second round, the São Paulo dispute may become even more nationalized between Bolsonaro and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Interlocutors from the Planalto Palace claim that Tarcísio took as a campaign strategy the attempt to detach his image from that of the president.

At the dinner with businessmen, the former minister said that “it has never been so easy to choose a path and convince people of the obvious” in the October elections.

According to him, there is the path of the group that has “been back there” and that, even with “the favorable wind”, did not make reforms or investments for Brazil to grow. And there is the path of continuity of the Bolsonaro government.

“With all the confusion and noise, facing the worst that we could have faced, it is the government that delivered the most [obras]. We hired a lot of investment and we are ready to take the leap,” Bolsonaro’s candidate told members of the Esfera Brasil group.

_{with BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS and MANOELLA SMITH}