Last Wednesday, around 10 in the morning, in a well-known Buenos Aires café on Libertador and Coronel Díaz Avenue, three leaders of Together for Change with Buenos Aires aspirations sat at the same table and talked for an hour.
On one side of the table, Néstor Grindetti, pre-candidate for governor of Buenos Aires promoted by Patricia Bullrich; on the other, the provincial deputy and dolphin of the mayor -in use of leave- of Lanús, Adrián Urrelli, and the president of the Radical Civic Union in the Province, Maximiliano Abad.
Was there an offer from Grindetti to Abad to be his running mate in the next election? In the environment of the current president of Independiente they do not deny or confirm it, although they point out that in reality Grindetti's strategy is to agree with the UCR at the provincial level, less than a month after the closing of the lists.
Even without launching Abad maintained until now his own pretensions to play in a PASO with the PRO as the only candidate for radical governor in a bid that today has aspirations to Martin Tetaz and Gustavo Posse. On the other hand, Facundo Manes, the candidate who competed in the 2021 legislative and got 1.3 million votes, is still embarking on his own presidential adventure.
In the middle of the intern, Patricia Bullrich added Néstor Grindetti as her candidate in Province.
Abad, perhaps the main radical operator in Buenos Aires territory, has been negotiating with both PRO fronts for some time. Last week he also met with Diego Santilli, in the offices of the "Colo", a few blocks from where he had coffee with Grindetti. Running mate? It's not clear, either. The answer is the same as in the other case. Abad is wanted to negotiate how the UCR is going to play and with whom in the election.
The idea of cross-formulas has been discussed since the beginning of the year in Together for Change, for almost all national and provincial positions. However, in PBA it can take shape if radicalism does not end up defining a single candidate.
Following the national armed that he devised with Martín Lousteau and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the governor of Jujuy Gerardo Morales puts a chip on Tetaz and Posse, especially. Abad, meanwhile, would agree to accompany a PRO leader, but asks that there be a single candidate.
According to polls, Santilli has been measuring better than Grindetti. The reason has to do with the fact that "Colo" already played as a candidate in 2021, when he was elected deputy after the PASO with Manes in September and after beating Victoria Tolosa Paz in November; and by the fact that the mayor of Lanús was only now confirmed as Bullrich's man, after discarding Cristian Ritondo, Joaquín de la Torre and Javier Iguacel in the intern. As soon as his pre-candidacy was confirmed, Grindetti added the three as part of his Buenos Aires army.
Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, with Diego Santilli, his candidate in Province.
In the grindettismo they assure that it has been growing strongly in the reports that reach it and that Bullrich beats Larreta the presidential hand-to-hand, which still enhances him more. They deny that who was Buenos Aires Finance Minister in the management of Mauricio Macri is going to get off, as they say is installed from a sector of Santillismo. "He's hitting below the belt, Diego," they say.
"He is not going to get off, Nestor is already here, he is going to play, it's all gain," they add, hinting that even if he loses the PASO, Grindetti will manage to install himself and recognizing that, because of his profile, he can be a piece of any Together for Change government that emerges after October. "With Horacio everything is fine, whatever happens, Nestor already told him that after August he can join the team," they joked about his relationship with Rodriguez Larreta.
Regarding how the PASO will be played within the PRO, Bullrich was already clear in stating that she will present her own lists in the 135 municipalities and is not willing to agree on a truce with Larreta. On the other side of the party's own rift, Santilli spoke with mayors and made a message clear to them: if they support the former security minister, he will play with his own candidates in those municipalities.
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