Parliament adjourns as mark of respect to Karunanidhi

New Delhi: In a break from tradition, both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day today as a mark of respect to DMK chief M Karunanidhi who died last evening.

The 94-year-old DMK patriarch served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five times but was never a member of Parliament.

Glowing tributes were paid to the departed leader in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, before the Houses were adjourned for the day.

There is no precedent of adjourning the House in case the departed leader is not a sitting or former member of the House. It is a Parliament convention to adjourn the day for deceased sitting members, Parliament officials said.

However, before the proceedings commenced today, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu consulted senior leaders of various political parties for their views on adjourning the proceedings of the House for the day.

He sought to know their views as there was no precedent of adjourning the House in case the departed leader was not a



sitting or former member of the House, the officials said.

They said all those who participated in the meeting said Karunanidhi was one of the tallest leaders of the country and favoured adjournment of the proceedings.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar also said the government was in favour of adjournment.

The views were also conveyed to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the officials said.

As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan informed members about the demise of Karunanidhi.

Describing him as a "visionary" and a "leader of the masses", she said he had spread his political philosophy through screen writing and produced some of the best hits in Tamil cinema.

During his "illustrious political career", Karunanidhi "ably showcased his admirable leadership qualities and worked relentlessly for the cause of the people, particularly the marginalised and the downtrodden sections of society," Mahajan said.