Muthuvel Karunanidhi is the only politician, who while being the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, knew all the 14 prime ministers of India. The chief of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) breathed his last on 7 August, marking the end to an era in Tamil Nadu politics. 

Karunanidhi, who is also known as Kalaignar, chose to stay at his house in Gopalapuram, Chennai. But due to health issues, he was shifted to the Kauvery hospital on 28 July. 

Karunanidhi began his political career when he was just 14. At 20, he started writing scripts for plays, which became a turning point in his life and a way for propagating principles of the Dravidian movement. 

Karunanidhi witnessed the rule of many leaders at the Centre while he continued to strengthen his base in his hometown Tamil Nadu. In 1969, when Karunanidhi took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time, Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of the country.

From 1947 to 2014, Karunanidhi saw the prime minister's chair being changed from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi.

In November 2017, PM Modi made an unscheduled visit to Karunanidhi's house in Chennai to meet the veteran leader. PM Modi's sudden meeting with Karunanidhi sparked all kinds of political rumours. 

Modi's visit to Karunanidhi's house came just a day before an important hearing on the 2G Spectrum allocation case in which DMK leaders A Raja and  Kanimozhi were then named.