Anyone who imposes conditions on a leader of Lula’s stature is wrong, says Alexandre Silveira | Policy

“My role is to help President Lula continue to lead Brazil for the good of Brazilians. Anyone who imposes conditions on a leader of President Lula’s stature is wrong. A leader of this stature cannot have at his side someone who has a personal project as his goal,” Silveira said.

The minister’s statement comes in a context of difficulties encountered by the president in defining his political platform in Minas Gerais in 2026. Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD), the name preferred by Lula to run for the government of Minas Gerais, declared that he would leave politics after the end of his term in the Senate, after the president chose to appoint the Advocate General of the Union, Jorge Messiasto a vacant seat on the Federal Court (STF), frustrating the senator’s interest. This Thursday (11), however, after being affectionate with Lula, Pacheco said he was open to dialogue to “reach a good agreement” with the president.

Within the PT, names were also considered as candidates for state government, such as mayor of Count, Marilia Camposand the mayor of Juiz de Fora, Margarida Salomon. Both have previously said they have no interest in running for state government.

Silveira also said he will be everything the president wants him to be in 2026. “I will be at his side without imposing any conditions, without putting aside personal projects,” Silveira said.

To reporters, Silveira said that the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeo Zema (Novo), “isolated himself for a personal political project”. “Governor Zema has been warned that he must step down from the podium, after having governed Minas for these three years and now, naturally, in a republican way, he can, in his intentions, come forward to run in the national elections. I think he will have a lot of difficulty in showing how Minas has progressed,” the minister said.

Silveira added that the Minas government has made progress in public debtwhich increased from 112 billion reais to 195 billion reais, and that the major works carried out in the state over the last three years are, in reality, works of the federal government. He cited the duplication of BR-381, the restoration of federal highways and investments of 11 billion reais in transmission lines.