Caiado and Sabino exchange barbs and the minister jokes: “When he has 1.5%, I will respond”

The Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, responded this Wednesday, 8th, to the criticisms of the governor of Goiás, Ronaldo Caiado, who called him “immoral” and “traitor” for remaining in the Lula government after the disembarkation of their party, União Brasil. In a tone of irony, Sabino replied: “When he has 1.5% in the survey, I will answer him”.

Sabino’s comment occurred after a meeting of the party’s National Executive, in Brasília, and refers to a phrase said by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in a 1989 presidential debate in which he and Caiado participated.

At the time, Lula refused to direct a question to the current governor of Goiás. “When you grow in percentage, I’ll do it. When it reaches 1.5%, I’ll do it,” he said. Currently, Caiado is a pre-candidate for President of the Union.

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Speaking to journalists after the Executive meeting, the governor reacted to the provocation: “Even the phrase is Lula’s,” said Caiado. “(Sabino) He is a person that we call in political life a liquid character, he takes the shape of a bottle. And he took the shape of the PT bottle, that’s his character, so that’s the difference, because I’ve been in public life for 40 years”, he added.

Upon leaving the place, the governor also pointed out “inconsistency” in Sabino’s decision to remain in government even after the party’s ultimatum. “It’s not about electoral research, it’s about dignity. A member cannot serve two masters: either he is with Lula, or he is with União Brasil. This dubiousness erodes the credibility of any party.”

As shown by Estadão, the Union decided to remove the Minister of Tourism from party functions, remove him from the party directory in Pará and take disciplinary proceedings against him at the Ethics Council. Even with the internal punishments, Sabino will remain in office and may remain in the party or migrate to another party with a view to the 2026 elections.

“If he wants to stay in the PT, fine, join the PT. Now, the person is playing the PT’s game and wants to be a member of União Brasil? It’s not coherent. There’s no party loyalty, there’s loyalty to the position”, said Ronaldo Caiado.

Celso Sabino defended the continuity of work at the head of the department. “We are 30 days away from COP-30, the biggest diplomatic meeting on the planet. I don’t see it as opportune for us to have an interruption in the work that is being done,” he said.

União Brasil and PP, which form the União Progressista federation, announced in September the departure of the government base and asked all members to leave management positions. Like Sabino, the Minister of Sports, André Fufuca (PP), also resisted the guidance and was removed from his party functions.