(Image tweeted by @kalaignar89)

Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called on DMK President M. Karunanidhi and enquired about his health.

After participating in the 75th anniversary celebrations of Tamil newspaper Dina Thanthi, Modi called on Karunanidhi at his residence in Gopalapuram.

The Prime Minister was received by DMK Working President and Karunanidhi's son M.K. Stalin.

This is the first time Modi has met Karunanidhi at his residence.

Modi's visit comes at a time when Stalin has been attacking the central government.

Stalin has been charging the Centre with running a proxy government in Tamil Nadu. He has also said that the BJP government led by Modi had not fulfilled the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

After meeting Modi, Karunanidhi, seated on a wheelchair, appeared near the door and waved to DMK cadres assembled outside his house. 

Karunanidhi fell ill in October, 2016 due to a drug-induced allergy.

In December last, he was admitted to the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai twice.

The veteran leader was admitted to the hospital for 'optimisation of nutrition and hydration' in the first week of December and later, due to a throat and lung infection.

He had undergone tracheostomy, a procedure to optimise breathing.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had called on the DMK patriarch at his residence in December, 2016.
The nonagenarian leader had made his first public appearance on October 19 this year, the first since his illness, when he visited an exhibition here held to showcase the 75-year journey of DMK's mouthpiece Murasoli.