The state of Tamil Nadu is mourning the passing of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo M Karunanidhi. The funeral is set to be held on Wednesday, August 8, and the mortal remains have been kept at the Rajaji Hall in Chennai for people to pay their last respects.

The mantle of the party will now be taken up by his son MK Stalin, and politics runs in the family. The Karunanidhi clan is known to have dominated Tamil Nadu's political scene since the 60s.

The Karunanidhi family

  1. Muthuvel Karunanidhi: The head of DMK, he has served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu five times and has never lost an election he contested. He married three times and his wives are late Padmavathy, Dayalu and Rajathi. From them, he has four sons – MK Muthu, MK Alagiri, MK Stalin, and MK Tamilarasu – and two daughters Selvi and Kanimozhi.
  2. MK Muthu: He is the eldest son of Karunanidhi. He was born to Karunanidhi's first wife Padmavathy and is known for his films.
  3. MK Alagiri: He is the second son of Karunanidhi and was born to his second wife Dayalu. He has been an active figure in politics and was also the Cabinet Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers between June 2009 and March 2013.
  4. MK Stalin: Known to be a favourite of Karunanidhi, Stalin was also born to the leader's second wife Dayalu. A four-time MLA, he will now take charge of DMK.
  5. Selvi: Born to Karunanidhi and Dayalu, Selvi is married to her father's nephew S Selvam and lives in Bengaluru.
  6. Tamilarasu: The youngest son of Dayalu, he too has opted to stay away from politics and instead dabbles in film production and real estate.
  7. Kanimozhi: The youngest child of Karunanidhi, Kanimozhi was born to his third wife Rajathi. She is a politician, poet and journalist and is infamous for her role in the 2G corruption case. She has been married twice, first to Athiban Bose between 1989 and 1997. She then married G. Aravindaan.
M Karunanidhi
After Karunanidhi's death, the mantle of the party will now be taken up by his son MK StalinKarunanidhi Twitter Account

Apart from politics, the family is well known even in the media and entertainment circuit with brands run by Karunanidhi's grandsons and nephews.

  1. Murasoli Maran: A leader of DMK and Karunanidhi's nephew, he was a Union minister under three separate central governments. He was a journalist and a scriptwriter for films. He also worked as the editor of DMK's party paper Murasoli. He died on November 24, 2003, aged 68.
  2. Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanithi Maran: Sons of Murasoli Maran, the duo owns the Sun TV network, which is the oldest in South India. The company, which started with television has now also branched out to newspapers and magazines, film production, DTH services and radio. Kalanithi also held a major share in SpiceJet between 2010 and 2015 and won Young Businessman awards from CNBC and Ernst & Young.
  3. Udhayanidhi Stalin: He is the son of MK Stalin and grandson of Karunanidhi. A film producer and actor, he also owns the Tamil production and distribution company Red Giant Movies.
  4. Dayanidhi Azhagiri: Another of Karunanidhi's grandsons, he is MK Azhagiri's son. A producer and distributor, he owns Cloud Nine Movies.
  5. Arulnithi Tamilarasu: Son of MK Tamilarasu, he is an actor in the Tamil film industry.
  6. S Selvam: Nephew of Karunanidhi and Selvi's husband, Selvam heads Udaya TV, the Kannada channel of Sun Network.