Rahul Calls on Karunanidhi, Says DMK Chief is Doing Well

Chennai: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday called on DMK patriarch Karunanidhi, who is undergoing treatment for lung and throat infection at a private hospital in Chennai, and said the 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 that he is going to go home pretty soon and that is good news," he told reporters.

Flanked by senior party leaders including Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Su Thirunavukkarasar and DMK treasurer M K Stalin, he hailed Karuananidhi as a "leader of the Tamil people, leader of Tamil Nadu, so I thought I would come and wish him personally."

To a query, he said, "Yes I met him (Karunanidhi), I said hello to him and he is doing well hopefully he will be out (of the hospital) soon and Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) has also sent her regards to him."

92-year-old Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital here on the night of December 15 following complaints of difficulty in breathing due to throat and lung infection.

Yesterday, he underwent tracheostomy at the hospital to optimise breathing and later the hospital said the DMK chief's condition was stable.

Last night, after the tracheostomy procedure, his condition improved and even he watched a Rajinikanth starrer 'Batcha' on his laptop.

This is the first visit that Rahul Gandhi is paying a visit to Karunanidhi in last 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 had visited Apollo Hospitals here to enquire about the health of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, there were expectations in the DMK camp that he could pay a visit to party patriarch Karunanidhi as well.

However, he did not visit the DMK chief then.

Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh during his brief visit.

After visiting Karunanidhi, Rahul Gandhi immediately took a flight to Delhi.

Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP, P Chidambaram, TNCC president Thirunavukkarasar, Congress Legislature Party leader Ramasamy received him at the airport and also later saw him off.