Chennai, August 7:  DMK workers on Tuesday protested outside Chennai's Kauvery hospital after the state government denied land for DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi's memorial near the Anna Memorial at Marina Beach. According to reports, DMK leader A Saravanan has said that the party is moving the Madras High Court tonight, seeking permission to bury Karunanidhi. Though best known as the political rival to J Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi was a man with several feathers in his cap. According to a recent tweet by ANI, the Madras High Court acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh agrees to hear by 10:30 pm today.

The veteran leader breathed his last on Tuesday at Kauvery Hospital at 6.10 pm. Karunanidhi's funeral will be held at Marina beach on Wednesday. Tamil Nadu will observe one week of mourning as a mark of respect for the former Chief Minister.

Scores of people had gathered outside the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai's Alwarpet on Tuesday, following the death of their 94-year old Kalaignar.  People were seen damaging barricades and trying to break the police cordon as the state government denied to grant the land for the veteran leader.

The reason why DMK wants Karunanidhi's memorial at the Marina beach is probably as memorials of stalwarts of Tamil Nadu politics including Karunanidhi’s mentor and former Chief Minister CN Annadurai, founder of rival All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa have been built there.

MK Stalin and other DMK leaders requested Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to allot them the vacant spot next to the Anna Samadhi (Annadurai’s burial site) for Karunanidhi’s memorial. The Tamil Nadu government instead offered two acres of land for his burial at Gandhi Mandapam, near the Guindy National Park in Tamil Nadu.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 07, 2018 09:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).