Tiruchi has a special place not only in the history of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) but also in the heart of its departed leader M.Karunanidhi.
It was at the second State conference held here in May 1956 that the DMK took the significant decision of jumping into electoral fray and Karunanidhi made his electoral debut at Kulithalai, then part of the composite Tiruchi district. There was no looking back in his political career.
Karunanidhi addressed his last State conference of the party in Tiruchi in February 2014. It was the 10th State conference of the party and the sixth in a row to be presided over by Karunanidhi as the party president. He virtually launched the party’s campaign at the conference for the Lok Sabha election held later in the year.
Karunanidhi seemed to draw much strength through such vibrant events as he acknowledged that it was one of the mammoth conferences of the party and showered praises on former Minister K.N.Nehru, the man behind the show.
When Karunanidhi decided to hit the streets to campaign for the party in 2016 Assembly elections, despite his frail health, party men where elated. His public meetings in the city were big draws and his speeches used to be last nearly an hour every time. But in his last public electoral meeting in the city on April 27, he hardly spoke for 10 minutes.
Though there was still plenty of time left for the 10 p.m. deadline to complete the campaign, Karunanidhi wound up his speech quickly. Party cadre, though disappointed, were stirred to see and hear the patriarch leading from the front in yet another election. He cautioned the party cadre against complacency and urged them to work hard to bring back the party to power.
Karunanidhi also had a soft corner for the Tiruchi presspersons. He never failed to call for press conferences whenever he visited the city except on a couple of occasions during his later years, and often came out with politically important statements here. When questioned about this practice, he replied in his inimitable style: “Tiruchi reporters would not give a twist” (‘Tiruchi nirubargal thirithu koora mattargal’).
