RAMESH TILALA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Rajkot (south) Assembly constituency on Thursday declared assets worth more than Rs 171 crore, making him one of the richest candidates in the 2022 Assembly election in Gujarat. In an affidavit submitted as part of his nomination papers on Friday, 57-year-old Tilala declared assets worth Rs 171.57 crore. They include Rs 56.70 crore in his own name and Rs 114.87 crore in the name of his wife Hansa Tilala. An industrialist and businessman, Tilala possesses movable assets worth Rs 9.51 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 47.18 crore. In case of his wife, the respective figures are Rs 8.63 crore and Rs 106.24 crore. Tilala, who dropped out of school after completing his primary education, is chairman of Shapar-Veraval Industrial Association, a chamber of industrial units in Shapar-Veraval on the southern outskirts of the city. He is also a trustee of Shree Khodaldham Trust, a religious trust of Leuva Patel sub-caste group of the Patidar community, which has built a grand temple of goddess Khodiyar - the patron deity of Leuva Patels - in Kagvad village of Rajkot district. Tilala’s movable assets include Rs 1.28 lakh cash in hand, Rs 3.89 lakh deposit in five bank accounts, Rs 2.53 crore as investments in eight firms, Rs 10 lakh-worth life insurance policy, Rs 6.16 crore loan advanced to eight firms and Rs 33 lakh as taxes paid in advance and other assets. His wife’s immovable assets include 165.74 grams of gold worth Rs 6.18 lakh, Rs 90,000 cash in hand, Rs 10 lakh insurance policy, and shares and loan advance etc. The BJP candidate has not mentioned any vehicle in his or his wife’s name. His immovable assets include agricultural land in Rajkot and Surat districts worth Rs 26.20 crore, Rs 16.31 crores worth of non-agricultural land in Rajkot and Rs 4.48 crore worth of house in Nana Mava area of the city. His wife’s immovable assets include agricultural land divided in 10 plots in Rajkot district worth Rs 67.78 crore, 11 plots of non-agricultural land worth around Rs 38 crore and 50 lakh worth house in Mavdi area of Rajkot city. Thus, Hansa owns land worth more than Rs 106 crore. Tilala also declared Rs 1.2 crore as movable assets and Rs 3 crore as immovable assets in the name of his Hindu undivided family. Taken together, he has declared total assets worth more than Rs 175 crore. Tilala also declared liability in the form of loans from eight individuals and one private landing firm worth Rs 2.41 crore. His wife has liabilities include loans taken from 16 individuals and her husband worth Rs 6.24 crore. His rivals Hitesh Vora and Shivlal Barasiya from the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, respectively in Rajkot (south) are also crorepatis. In the 2017 Assembly election, Indranil Rajyaguru of the Congress had declared assets worth Rs 141 crore in his affidavit filed with his nomination papers for Rajkot (west) seat and was the second richest candidate in fray that year after fellow Congress candidate Pankaj Patel (Rs 213 crore) from Daskroi. Saurabh Patel, BJP candidate from Botad, had declared assets worth Rs 123 crore and Dhanji Patel, BJP candidate from Wadhwan, had declared assets worth Rs 113 crore. Raghu Desai of the Congress had declared assets worth Rs 108 crore while filing his nomination papers for Chanasma seat.
