Chennai: DMK president and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi was laid to rest on the Marina beachfront as several chief ministers and leaders of various parties besides thousands of supporters bade him a tearful farewell. Symbolically, the leader of the party with the Rising Sun as its symbol was cremated around the time of the sun set.

The day was marked by high drama as the DMK lawyers had to win a court battle with the AIADMK government to secure a site on the Marina near the Anna memorial, which was a wish of Karunanidhi.

The 94-year-old Dravidian patriarch known as Kalaignar was buried with full military honours next to his mentor and former chief minister C N Annadurai, while his family members led by party working president M K Stalin were in tears as the coffin was lowered.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Veerappa Moily, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Puducherry chief minister V Narayanaswamy, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda of the JD(S), Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress, Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan, were among those who attended the funeral.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief ministers of West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana, Mamta Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, H D Kumaraswamy and K Chandrasekhar Rao, Sri Lankan minister Thondaman, former UP chief minister Akhilesh yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Sitaram Yechury of CPM, D raja of CPI, Tejaswi of RJD, Sharad Pawar of NCP, Tamil Nadu governor Purohit, G K Vasan (TMC), A C Shanmugam, were among others who paid floral tributes at the Rajaji Hall where the body was kept for the public to pay homage. The AIADMK government was represented by chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami, deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, and Fisheries minister D Jayakumar.

A large number of film celebrities including Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Ajith, Vijay Sethupathy, Kushboo, Vairamuthu, Pa Vijay, director Vijay, conveyed their condolences to the Karunanidhi family at Rajaji Hall.

Thousands of people filed past the body to pay their last respects to the departed leader.

At the funeral, Karunanidhi’s second wife, Rajathi Ammal, her daughter Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi’s sons M K Alagiri, M K Tamizharasan, and daughter M K Selvi, were present, as also Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi Maran, other relatives

Karunanidhi’s son and heir apparent Stalin received the national flag wrapped around his father’s body. Gun shots were fired as a mark of respect to the leader as the coffin was lowered. Family members showered flower petals at his feet. Hindu rites were not performed as Karunanidhi was an atheist and rationalist.