Controversy erupts over burial site for Karunanidhi

AIADMK Government triggered a political crisis in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday evening by denying space behind C N Annadurai’s memorial on the historic Marina Beach for DMK chief M Karunanidhi to be buried near his mentor’s resting place.

As Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan issued a statement expressing the government’s inability in allotting land near Marina Beach, DMK cadres burst into tears outside Kauvery Hospital and Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi demanding that the government allocate the rightful place for him.

The DMK, on its part, has decided to move the Madras High Court seeking direction for allotment of land on the Marina Beach. Cries of Vendum, Vendum, Marina Vendum (We need Marina) rented the air in most places in Chennai as DMK cadres took to the street demanding that their leader be buried on the Marina Beach.

Vaidyanathan cited pending court cases to deny DMK’s request for allocation of land on the Marina Beach and offered 2 acres of land on the Sardar Patel Road near Anna University for Karunanidhi’s memorial. Though Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules prohibit any new construction on the Marina Beach, the government made special concession to allow former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s burial and building of her memorial in 2016.

The DMK which too expected same courtesy being extended to its leader was disappointed with party working president M K Stalin writing to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami twice on Tuesday requesting land on the Marina.