The Cauvery delta occupied a special place in former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s heart.
It was not just because his roots were in the region, but also because his first and last electoral battles took place there.
In the 1957 Assembly elections, when the DMK decided to enter the electoral fray for the first time, Mr. Karunanidhi got elected from Kulithalai, now in Karur district, and then in Tiruchi. He won comfortably, defeating his immediate rival, K.A. Dharmalingam of the Congress. His last electoral fight was two years ago in Tiruvarur — a constituency he had held since 2011. He defeated R. Panneerselvam of the AIADMK by a huge margin. In 2011, too, he beat the AIADMK nominee, M. Rajendran, comfortably.
In 1962, when the then Chief Minister and Congress leader K. Kamaraj campaigned vigorously in the constituencies of the 15 incumbent legislators of the DMK, Mr. Karunanidhi shifted to Thanjavur to take on industrialist Parisutha Nadar. It was a close contest, but eventually the then upcoming DMK leader made it. Barring Karunanidhi, the 14 other sitting MLAs of the DMK lost, including party founder C.N. Annadurai, even though the party increased its tally to 50. In 1967, when the DMK captured power for the first time, Mr. Karunanidhi chose Saidapet, a constituency in Chennai, and since then, he stuck to the city, till the 2006 elections.
He again represented Saidapet between 1971 and 1976. Anna Nagar was his constsituency for two elections (1977 and 1980). He did not contest in 1984 as by then he had entered the Legislative Council. In 1991, he resigned even before taking oath, owning moral responsibility for the DMK’s rout. He also resigned as MLA in 1983 expressing solidarity with Sri Lankan ethnic Tamils.