Karunanidhi will be buried at Marina beach, Madras HC rules in favour of DMK

The DMK had said the AIADMK government is citing minor issues for rejecting the party's request for space at Marina Beach to bury Karunanidhi.

CHENNAI: The late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi will be buried at the iconic Marina beach, the Madras High Court ruled ending the court battle on Kalaignar's last resting place. The matter reached court after the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday refused to alott allot land at Marina Beach to bury the late DMK President.

The DMK had approached the court on Tuesday night against the order as the party wanting him interred near the seafront memorial of DMK founder and Karunanidhi's mentor C.N. Annadurai.

The AIADMK government had asked the DMK to bury Karunanidhi on Sardar Patel Road which is home to memorials dedicated to Rajaji (C. Rajagopalachari) and K Kamaraj. Earlier all the petitioners who had filed a case against the memorial for AIADMK's late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said they are withdrawing their petitions and the court dismissed their pleas.

On Wednesday, the government counsel argued the DMK party is politicising the burial of Karunanidhi. The court asked the government counsel to explain the legal issues in allotting space at Marina Beach as mentioned in the statement issued by the government on Tuesday.

The DMK counsel argued that the government is citing minor issues for rejecting the party's request for space at Marina Beach for burying Karunanidhi.

The DMK said Karunanidhi is an ardent follower of party founder and Annadurai. Since AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran was also a follower of Annadurai he was buried near the latter's memorial.

According to DMK, the ideologies of late Congress leaders like Rajagopalachari and Kamaraj are different from that of what was followed by Dravidian leaders like Annadurai and Karunanidhi. Hence it will not be appropriate to bury Karunanidhi at the site offered by the state government.

The DMK also argued that the Chennai Corporation has announced the Annadurai memorial Beach as a burial site.