Mamata to unveil Karunanidhi statue in Chennai on Aug 7

DMK has invited West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to unveil a statue of late M Karunanidhi in the office, on party mouthpiece 'Murasoli' in Chennai on August 7.

The event coincides with the first death anniversary of Karunanidhi, who is known as 'Kalainjar' (supreme leader), and it will be attended by Chief Ministers Y S Jaganmohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana) and V Narayanaswamy (Puducherry).

Sources said DMK chief M K Stalin, the son of Karunanidhi, has personally invited Mamata and other chief ministers to the function. Stalin also sent an emissary to Kolkata to hand over the invite to Mamata.

Last December, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had unveiled Karunanidhi's statue in DMK headquarters. It was at this function Stalin proposed the name of Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition.

Sources said that this time, they wanted to keep the event to chief ministers and chose only chief ministers of southern states other than Mamata as guests.

The choice of Mamata is seen as an attempt by the DMK to reach out to other regional parties but party leaders said there is nothing much to read into

The unveiling of a statue in the office of 'Murasoli', where Stalin's son Udhayanidhi is the managing director, is also seen as an attempt by Stalin to elevate the status of his son in political circles, who has been recently appointed as Secretary of DMK youth wing.