Freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak's great-grandson, Rohit Tilak, is all set to join Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Rohit Tilak is a former Maharashtra Youth Congress chief. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, from the Kasba Peth seat in Pune against late Girish Bapat of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Rohit was the only member of the Tilak family active in the Congress after his grandfather, Jayantrao Tilak. His aunt, the late Mukta Tilak, was associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She became a corporator, Mayor of Pune and then the MLA from Kasba Peth. Her son, Kunal Tilak, was elected as a BJP corporator earlier this year.
Recently, Eknath Shinde offered Rohit to contest the Rajya Sabha elections as a Shiv Sena candidate. However, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi fielded Sharad Pawar, and Shinde decided not to contest the seat.
According to reports, Rohit had gone to Mumbai to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha as Shiv Sena's second candidate, but at the last minute, it was decided that he wouldn't file, making the election unopposed.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Rohit said he has not officially resigned from the Congress but stopped working for the party a few years ago.
He stated that ever since the prestigious annual Lokmanya Tilak National Award was conferred on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in Pune in 2023, the Congress has kept a distance from him.
He said on several occasions he has explained his decision to the party leadership. “I finally got fed up and stopped working for Congress in the last two years. Instead, I focused on the social work of the Tilak family,” said Rohit.
