“League’s identity cancelled, now let’s build a new dream” – Corriere.it

FROM OUR REPORTER
VELLEZZO BELLINI (PAVIA) – «We have created the Northern Committee because,
after the last electoral collapse,
the time has come to stand up… You suffered when you saw the identity of the League erased. But now we need a new dream and we will build it together».
Until a few days ago, Umberto Bossi was hospitalized,
already tried by several ailments that force him in a wheelchair. But at the Castle of Giovenzano, in the Pavia countryside, he arrives with the bite of a lion who doesn’t give up. The collapse of the Salvini (and national) traction League has caused the discontent of the Northern League base to overflow, that of the militants, anchored to the territory: the North.

“The Chief”, as his loyalists call him, had foreseen it for some time. To such an extent that, already in August, he had organized a whirlwind of meetings in Gemonio, protected by the walls of the house, to organize the frond with the Northern Committee. And when the polls certified the fall of Matteo Salvini, the Senatùr lit the fuse. It is a great political comeback after years of silence, with Bossi who is really on the attack for the first time after the diamond scandal that buried his Lega.

Outside the Castle of Giovenzano the notes of Nabucco reverberate: «Va pensiero….», the militants sing at the top of their voices. Shirts, ties and handkerchiefs are all green. Two Lega flags are displayed on the stage, one historical and the current one by Salvini: «What do you notice the difference? – MEP Angelo Ciocca rhetorically asks -. The word North is missing!». The more than 600 crowded between the hall and tents set up against the pouring rain are peeling their hands. “Bossi! Bossi! Bossi!». And then: «Lords in our house! Free Padania!». It seems to be back to the glories of the late nineties. Instead it is an attempt to reconquer the League by the old troops, with “the Chief” dictating the strategy to the coordinator Paolo Grimoldi, a former deputy then effectively purged.

There are among those present well-known faces such as the former Minister of Justice Roberto Castelli or that of Reforms Francesco Speroni. But also some representatives of the regional council, led by the group leader Max Bastoni. More than one appears to have sympathies for Letizia Moratti. Air of split? “We will also discuss with her – explains the hyperbossian Ciocca -, but our candidate to lead Lombardy remains Attilio Fontana”.

The stone guest has a name and a surname: Matteo Salvini. But the federal secretary is never mentioned explicitly. However, a militant who took the stage took care of it: «You can’t see a 49-year-old who, instead of doing politics, plays the idiot on
TikTok
». Ciocca stops him immediately: “We mustn’t waste energy.”

Bossi, although very physically exhausted, is filled with the affection of the crowd: «A dream is missing, we have to rebuild it. The League cannot exist without a clear and strong identity. We created the Northern Committee to renew the League, not to destroy it”. And then: «We feared that many people would leave the League, we cannot accept it without doing anything», adds the Senatùr. The reference goes in particular to the Veneto, where on 25 September the League was outclassed by the Brothers of Italy in a historic pool of votes, as happened in Lombardy: «The reaction was not one of self-criticism, of opening up a discussion and at a congress – Grimoldi disputes -. Rather: let’s put a party commissioner. But where are we going to go? That’s why we’re back here, home, before it’s too late.”

But now what will be the probable objective of the Northern Committee? First of all, this is a movement that annoys Salvini, so much so that, in recent weeks,
the secretary had sent a formal notice, imposing the bossian creature not to use the symbols of the League and forbidding to draw on the party database with the data of the militants.
But, at least for now, the legal battle doesn’t seem to have had the desired effect: «Did we stop? – Ciocca replies – These 600 people from almost all the Lombard provinces are our answer». For now, the Northern Committee has collected «about 1,200 passes and the number will rise – say the top management -, also because we will also open in other regions, starting from the Veneto ». The unsaid sounds more or less like this: “If we don’t succeed in undermining Salvini, at least he will be forced to listen to us”. All the while, after the congress lost in Bergamo, on Sunday 4 December Salvini will have to play everything for the provincial one of Varese, the Nazareth of the League (which it was).