Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has stressed that the ministers from Sumar present this Tuesday at the meeting of the Council of Ministers have not asked him to step down from office in the wake of the Urda railway accident, in which 69 people have died. He says that he understands that the candidate of the Frente Amplio, Ada Colau, is asking for his departure, but he does not accept that demand when it comes from the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, whom he reproaches for never assuming political responsibilities.
"Neither inside nor outside has any Sumar colleague asked me to resign," Puente said at Tuesday's press conference in La Moncloa, assuring that, on the contrary, there have been "many expressions of affection and love" which, he notes, he appreciates.
At the session of the Council of Ministers attended the heads of the coalition's minority partner —Ernest Urtasun, Sira Rego, Mónica García and Pablo Bustinduy—, all except the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, who is on an official trip to China.
Puente was asked about this issue after the groups integrated in Sumar had called for him to step aside following last week's derailment, which is added to another fatal collision in Adamuz (Córdoba) just a few months ago, in which 46 people died.
Colau, "in good faith"; Feijóo, "double standard"
COLAU ASKS IT "IN GOOD FAITH"
Colau, who concentrates most of this political space in the candidacy for the general election on November 29, called for Puente's resignation out of "humanity" and "empathy" with the victims and now the minister has explained that he understands that she is raising that demand because he considers that she is acting "in good faith".
By contrast, he rejects that it is Feijóo who is demanding it, understanding that he maintains a "double standard" given that, he reproaches him, he does not promote dismissals within his own party.
"It is not from someone who never accepts a political responsibility that I accept it," he said, assuring that there are numerous cases in which the action or the lack of reaction of the PP has contributed to generating "harm". "Some we have very recent in memory and others not so much," he said.
Puente, who this same Tuesday appears before the Permanent Deputation of the Congress to offer explanations about the Urda (Toledo) accident, has defended that he has neither taken nor failed to take any decision that has caused that damage and that, when it was necessary to react, he was at his post. "Showing my face without hiding," he emphasized.
Moncloa closes ranks with the minister and rules out his departure
MONCLOA REITERATES THAT PUENTE WILL NOT RESIGN
On the other hand, sources from Moncloa insist that Minister Puente will remain in office and that he is neither going to submit his resignation nor will he be dismissed, because, they maintain, the way to exercise responsibility at this time is to account for events, clarify what happened, and provide information. And they stress that the one best able to assume that task is the minister who currently holds the portfolio.
They underline that the decision has been made and that, therefore, "it is not going to happen" that he leaves in the coming days. The most responsible thing, they emphasize, is to continue at the helm and give explanations, since citizens expect the authorities to assume their functions and rise to the occasion.
As for a possible replacement of the president of Adif, Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña, they point out that at this moment that option is not being considered.