Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M.K. Stalin paid floral tribute to S. Kathavarayan, DMK legislator from Gudiyatham (Reserved), in Vellore district on Saturday.
He arrived at the house of Kathavarayan in Pernambut, where the body of the DMK loyalist was kept for public homage. Kathavarayan’s body was brought to his native town of Pernambut around 3.40 p.m. on Friday.
A former Pernambut municipal chairman, he rose up the party ranks before winning the Gudiyatham reserved seat, defeating AIADMK candidate Kasba Moorthi in the bypolls last year. Kathavarayan is the second sitting DMK MLA to pass away this week, after former Minister and sitting Member KPP Samy. With Kathavarayan’s passing, the strength of the DMK in the 234-member Assembly has come down to 98.
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DMK treasurer Duraimurugan, party principle secretary K.N. Nehru, Vellore district secretary and Anaikattu MLA A.P. Nandakumar, former Ministers E.V. Velu and K. Ponmudi and MLAs P. Karthikeyan (Vellore), R. Gandhi (Ranipet) and A.C. Vilvanathan (Ambur) participated in the funeral.