Lula and Tarcísio have cordial interaction at SP meeting; watch the video

Lula had avoided running alongside the governor, an ally for the first time of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and who directly criticized the PT member throughout this year. In September, during the auction of the Santos-Guarujá tunnel on B3, it was Alckmin who represented the federal government. Last month, Tarcísio even declared that the country needed to “change CEOs” and criticized the president’s handling of public security and administration of state-owned companies.

But this Friday, Tarcísio and Lula briefly greeted each other in the studio where the new channel was launched. As the president arrived late, he spent a short time in the VIP room where the authorities and guests were located, and the two did not meet at that time. In the studio, Lula arrived next to the first lady, Janja da Silva, and Tarcísio, who was seated, stood up and greeted the PT member with a handshake. Then the governor turned sideways and greeted the first lady.

In his speech, Tarcísio said it was necessary to “build convergence” and that the debate between different ideas should take place “in the political arena.” Lula addressed the governor praising the good economic indicators achieved by the country.

At the end of the event, there was a brief conversation between Lula, Tarcísio and the mayor of the capital, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), about Enel. In his speech, Nunes asked for “help” from the president to resolve the problem of frequent power cuts in São Paulo, since the electricity distribution concession falls under federal jurisdiction.

In the conversation captured by GLOBO, Nunes presented the metropolitan region’s power outage map to show that, in the capital alone, there were still about 500,000 people without power Friday evening, three days after the windstorm that caused damage in São Paulo. Lula said he would speak about this subject with the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, and that the minister would also speak with the mayor. Tarcísio said it was necessary to make regulatory changes to this type of concession.

Then Lula turned to Tarcisio, hugged him and commented that he had lost weight and asked the governor “what time do you get up to do gymnastics?” The two laughed and the governor said this around 6am.

The tone of cordiality between Tarcísio and the federal government was not limited to Lula. Before the arrival of the president, Tarcísio spent several minutes talking with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, and the former player Alexandre Pato, married to Rebeca Abravanel, daughter of Silvio Santos, also participated in the conversation. The two men spoke pleasantly, in a cordial tone. One of the topics of the conversation was that Tarcísio’s father, who would be 95 years old like Silvio Santos if he were alive, studied at the same school as SBT founder Celestino da Silvano in Rio de Janeiro.

Tarcísio and Alckmin exchanged a few words alongside Ronaldo Fenômeno. Ronaldo called politicians “two stars,” to which Tarcísio replied: “You are the star.” Ronaldo was also “warned” by Lula and STF minister Alexandre de Moraes – Moraes even took the opportunity to take a photo with Alexandre Pato, who played for his favorite team, Corinthians. To GLOBO, Alckmin said he had “a quick interaction” with the governor and that “everything is fine.”

In a succinct speech, Tarcísio welcomed the creation of a new news channel and said journalism is necessary “in a time of fierce polarization” and called for convergence and dialogue.

— Sometimes they hate each other just because they think differently. Right here, in Brazil, country of syncretism, country of tolerance, it is time to change this key. It’s time to change things. We can think differently. The debate will take place in the political arena. But we have a way to build convergence. A project for the future, he said as Lula looked on from the audience.

Lula mentioned Tarcísio in his speech citing his administration’s economic indicators