No step back but no divisions. A two-way race is announced for the provincial secretariat of the League, but there is still time for the presentation of candidatures at the congress which will be held on Sunday 22 January. If there was still some indecision in recent weeks, now both Andrea De Bernardin and Luciano Da Pian confirm their participation in the Lega congress as candidates for the provincial secretariat, currently run by Commissioner Franco Gidoni.
De Bernardin, mayor of Rocca Pietore, has met his supporters in recent days to decide what to do and has dissolved the reserve: “I would be willing to run”, confirms De Bernardin, first a supporter and then a militant of the League for thirty years. «I decided it after meeting some friends in recent days, but in these hours I’m still making a few phone calls, because I’m happy to talk to everyone and see if those close to me share this project with me. These are assessments that I consider appropriate before considering the final decision. In fact, De Bernardin has not yet presented his candidacy: «I haven’t done so yet but hopefully I will present it in the next few days, a week before the date of the congress. In short, I’m working on it but I haven’t finished my reflection yet”.
Among the people that the mayor of Rocca Pietore wants to hear from is Luciano Da Pian: «I don’t know who he’s supported by and if he’s doing a round of consultations like me, that’s exactly what I’d like to understand. I don’t even know if there are other people interested, but I don’t think so: it’s a very demanding task».
For his part, Luciano Da Pian, former group leader in the municipal council in Belluno and member of the management of the city section, confirms his intention to move forward: «I have had pleasant feedback and many requests and this has certainly been an incentive for me to move forward . As De Bernardin says, the one between us will certainly not be a clash. If we both arrive at the provincial congress as candidates for the secretariat, it will be a competition between old militants with very few points of disagreement».
Both De Bernardin and Da Pian, in fact, consider themselves historical Northern League members closer to the Bossian (and Zaian) wing than to that of Salvini. «I don’t intend to take a step back also because I think a comparison is always good. I believe that the debate of the congress will help us to relaunch the movement starting from the people», continues Da Pian, «and reinforcing the network of militants. To arrive at a single candidacy one of us would have to give up, but who? Let’s measure ourselves with serenity and a spirit of compactness».