Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa on June 30, 2010, was chosen as the running mate to Presidential candidate José Serra. - in what was seem as a move pressed on Serra by the DEM leadership, as Serra tended to favour a "pure-blooded" PSDB ticket As vice-presidential candidate, he made himself noticed mostly by his declarations accusing the Workers' Party of connections with the FARC and international drug dealing, something that earned him the nickname of "Serra['s] Palin". After the results of the 2010 election, which by the popular vote elected Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's first female president, Indio da Costa parted from his former political
Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in retaliation. Cunha dismissed that his decision was motivated by personal or political reasons. In his defence, Cunha said that opening the impeachment process was his constitutional duty as chamber president, and the decision to do so was based only on facts related to the budget laws. Cunha said further that he had no personal grievance against the Workers' Party and that Rousseff had signed six decrees for additional spending, which had increased the 2015 federal spending in non-compliance with the annual budget law and without approval of the Congress. Rousseff denied any attempted deal to save Cunha in return