Casado's entourage assures that the former PP leader has "turned the page" two years after his fall

MADRID, 24 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

This February 24 marks two years since the start of the Ukrainian war. And it is also the anniversary of Pablo Casado's de facto resignation. That same morning in 2022, the territorial 'barons' of the PP negotiated with the then leader of the party his departure from the Presidency in an intense meeting of more than four hours that put an end to the 'Casado era' while Alberto Núñez Feijóo was anointed to take the reins of training.

The hidden war between the PP leadership led by Casado and the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had been going on for a long time but imploded in mid-February 2022 in a virulent manner with accusations of alleged espionage and corruption.

Casado then demanded that Ayuso clarify whether her brother received 286,000 euros in commissions for mediating a mask contract in the middle of the pandemic, while the Madrid president accused 'Génova' of linking her to corruption without evidence. Months later, the Prosecutor's Office would archive that investigation of Tomás Díaz Ayuso.

Sunday, February 20, 2022 marked a turning point in the history of the party. More than 3,000 people demonstrated in front of the headquarters on Génova Street calling for the resignation of Pablo Casado and Teodoro García Egea, his general secretary, while chanting 'Ayuso president'.

From that moment on, chain defections from Casado's closest circle began and voices grew calling for both García Egea's resignation - he finally did so on February 22 - and the calling of an extraordinary congress to seek a solution. way out of the deep internal crisis of the party.

After saying goodbye in the Congress of Deputies during his last parliamentary duel with Pedro Sánchez on February 23, Casado that same night met with the 'barons' of the PP, in a meeting that was rebelled by some of them as a " settling of accounts" towards the still 'popular' leader, according to sources close to the former 'popular' leader.

The presidents of the PP supported Feijóo as successor, with four absolute majorities behind him in the Xunta de Galicia, while agreeing for Casado to continue in office until the extraordinary congress in Seville on April 1 and 2, where delivered his last political speech.

Two years after that deep crisis that left many wounds, sources close to him confess to having opened another stage. "We have turned the page," says one of the people who accompanied Casado until his farewell and that she does not believe that he has any intention of returning to politics.

Other sources from his team at the time admit that Casado is "happy" with his new professional life, linked to a technology and defense fund in which he has surrounded himself with "a powerful team." It has been a "change of life", not only at work but also at home. "He even changed his children's schools," confess sources close to the former president of the PP.

Sources around him defend loyalty to Casado's party. "He has behaved like a gentleman and has made no attempt to tell anything because he does not want to harm his party," says a person in his circle, who emphasizes that given his status as former president of the party he has "a lot of information." .

"He has silenced many mouths with his behavior," underline the sources consulted. The most difficult wounds to close are the personal ones because he felt "disappointed" with people he had named and who then "jumped ship," they add.

Sources close to Casado assure that he has a "normal" relationship with Feijóo, with whom he corresponds from time to time. In February of last year, just on the first anniversary of the PP crisis, both had a lunch together in a central restaurant near the Senate that was revealed after being captured by graphic media.

The former president of the PP stays away from political life although he maintains a relationship with leaders of different parties, as was seen this summer at the traditional 'civet' of Luis Conde, founder of Seelinger y Conde, which he met at his farmhouse in La Fonteta (Girona). ) to more than 400 people, including businessmen and politicians.

Casado went there last year, accompanied by his wife Isabel Torres, a meeting that was also attended by the 'popular' Cuca Gamarra, Fernando López Miras and Ana Pastor; the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños; the former president of the Generalitat Artur Mas; the president of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar; or the former Vox spokesperson in Congress, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, among others.