DMK President M. Karunanidhi will have to be in hospital for some more days for treatment and party members, friends and others are requested not to visit the facility, the party has said.
Here are updates on DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s health and party matters in the DMK.
Kalaignar to remain in hospital a few days more
A DMK HQ release today said Karunanidhi will be in the hospital for "some more days" to undergo treatment.
The party asked its cadres to avoid visiting him in hospital and "cooperate". It had made a similar appeal when Karunanidhi was admitted to the hospital for drug-induced allergy in October.
The party quoted the health bulletin released by Kauvery Hospital yesterday which said Karunanidhi was stable having undergone the tracheostomy.
The ninety-two-year-old Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital here on the night of Dec. 15 with difficulty in breathing due to throat and lung infection. Yesterday, he underwent tracheostomy to optimise breathing. The hospital said the DMK chief's condition was stable.
Last night, after the tracheostomy procedure, his condition improved and he watched a Rajinikanth film Batcha on his laptop.
DMK defers General Council meeting
The DMK today deferred its December 20 General Council meeting of the party where treasurer M K Stalin was expected to be elevated as working president.
Stalin's elevation is on the cards as both party chief M Karunanidhi and veteran leader K Anbazhagan, the general secretary, have not been keeping well.
The General Council meeting was postponed in view of the hospitalisation of Karunanidhi, Anbazhagan said. In a press release, he said a new date for the General Council meeting would be announced.
In the runup to the Assembly polls this year, the nonagenarian leader had said he would be the chief minister if his party won and his son M K Stalin would have to wait "till nature does something to me".
Rahul Gandhi calls on Karunanidhi at last
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi called on DMK patriarch Karunanidhi on Saturday.
Emerging from the visit, he said, the nonagenarian DMK leader was doing well. "I just met him, I wanted to personally wish him a speedy recovery. I was very happy to see that he is doing well and the doctors told me he is going to go home pretty soon and that is good news."
Flanked by senior party leaders including Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Su Thirunavukkarasar and DMK treasurer M K Stalin, Rahul Gandhi hailed Karuananidhi as a "leader of the Tamil people, leader of Tamil Nadu."
This is the first visit that Rahul Gandhi is paying a visit to Karunanidhi in many years. Even during his several previous visits to Tamil Nadu Gandhi he did not call on the nonagenarian leader though Congress and DMK are allies.
Weeks ago, when he visited Apollo Hospitals here to enquire about the health of former chief minister Jayalalithaa, there were expectations in the DMK camp that he would pay a visit to party patriarch Karunanidhi as well.
However, he did not visit the DMK chief then.