At 82, The Comeback Kid
Chief Minister
In 1969, DMK chief minister C N Annadurai loses his battle with cancer, and Karunanidhi becomes his unexpected successor, outwitting V R Nedunchezhiyan. He has the backing of Tamil movie superstar M G Ramachandran, which proves critical in the succession battle.
In 1971, the DMK faces the electorate under Karunanidhi's leadership for the first time, and wins. But MGR, who helps him become chief minister, is upset that Karunanidhi does not accord him importance in the DMK. The matinee idol is expelled from the DMK, a decision Karunanidhi will rue a long time. MGR launches the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the AIADMK.
In 1975, Karunanidhi opposes the state of Emergency imposed on the country by then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Many DMK leaders including Karunanidhi's nephew Murasoli Maran and son M K Stalin are jailed. Indira Gandhi asks the Justice R S Sarkaria Commission to probe corruption charges levelled against the DMK by MGR. The Commission indicts the Karunanidhi government, which is dismissed in 1976.
Karunanidhi joins hands with the Janata Party for the 1977 assembly election but is badly routed. MGR's AIADMK wins power for the first time.
From 1977 to 1989, Karunanidhi stays in the wilderness. MGR wins two elections in a row and is chief minister until his death in 1987.
In the 1989 assembly election, Karunanidhi returns to power, but that stint lasts a mere two years. Following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in May 1991, his government is dismissed. In the 1991 assembly election, a new leader from the AIADMK, sometime actress J Jayalalitha, decimates the DMK.
If the fight between MGR and Karunanidhi dominated the 1970s and 1980s, the battle between him and the much younger Jayalalitha continues unabated.
Karunanidhi bounces back in 1996, thanks to Jayalalitha's misrule. He fights the 2001 election telling the electorate it is his last election, but the people of Tamil Nadu vote Jayalalitha back to power.
On June 30, 2001, he is arrested at midnight by the Jayalalitha government for alleged involvement in the Rs 120 million flyover scam. He vows vengeance.
For the 2004 general election, Karunanidhi makes peace with his old enemy, the Congress party, and creates a broad anti-AIADMK alliance. The DMK front wins all 39 Lok Sabha seats.
In 2006, nearing 82, a man who did not attend the Tamil Nadu assembly even once these past five years, citing ill-health, decides to plunge into the campaign once again. He travels the length and breadth of the state, promising voters freebies that must make the state's bureaucrats wince.
On Saturday, May 13, M Karunanidhi will be sworn in as Tamil Nadu's chief minister a fifth time.
Also See: 'Voters don't see a need for change in TN'