Chennai: Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will unveil a statue of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Saturday at Omandurar Government Estate premises here. Karunanidhi’s son and incumbent Chief Minister M.K Stalin will be present in the function. After the statue’s unveiling, a function will be held at Kalaivanar Arangam hall in Chennai. Karunanidhi was a record five-term Chief Minister and was elected to the state Assembly for 13 times from 1957 onwards.
He served as the Chief Minister for a record 19 years. He was a poet, movie scriptwriter, and ideologue of the DMK when it was founded taking the concept of Dravidian ideology mooted by late EV Ramasamy Periyar. Karunanidhi was one of the stalwarts of the DMK along with the founder leader of the party and late Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai. The writings and speeches of Karunanidhi made him highly popular among the masses and he later turned out to be a major political force in South India and was one of the key persons involved in stitching coalitions in New Delhi during both NDA and UPA governments.—IANS