Grand old man of Indian Politics, Karunanidhi turns 94 today

The grand old man of Indian politics, DMK president and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi turns 94 today with hosts of the programme including celebrating his diamond jubilee in the State Legislative Assembly that would see a galaxy of national leaders, including Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, attending it.

In a bid to present a secular front and field a common candidate against BJP-led NDA's nominee, the DMK has called all the top leaders including CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI National Secretary D Raja, Chief Ministers of Bihar, Odisha Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, besides other chief ministers for Karunanidhi's birthday celebrations.

In addition, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah is expected to come to the function. DMK sources said West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee assured to depute her party leader if she unable to attend the programme.

Though Karunanidhi's health condition was stable, the DMK leader will not make the public appearance as per the doctor's advice. The nonagenarian leader has not made a public appearance since he sustained allergy due to a drug induction on October 25 last year. Perhaps for the first time, Karunanidhi would not be seen in public on his birthday.

As per the doctor's advice, DMK working president M K Stalin has asked its party cadres to avoid meeting Karunanidhi, who is slowly recovering after a treatment for infection.

Interestingly, Karunanidhi, a playwright and scriptwriter known for his affinity with Tamil cinema, is very active in social media till now by updating latest pictures of important events.

Karunanidhi had contested successfully to the Tamil Nadu assembly with 50 years of public service under his belt. Karunanidhi, the five-time chief minister, has won a record successive 13 Assembly elections when he won polls from his hometown of Tiruvarur in 2016.

The DMK leader's electoral winning streak was perhaps unmatched in the country, as he maintained the unique record of having not lost any elections.

The tough electoral battle Karunanidhi faced was in 1991 when he was the lone DMK candidate to win, but by a thin margin of just over 800 votes in Harbour as the AIADMK-Congress combine swept the polls on the sympathy wave following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur.