Selvi karunanidhi age

With his passing, former DMK chief Kalaignar Muthuvel Karunanidhi leaves behind a large family, who may not always see eye to eye. Apart from navigating the pressures of his political life – appeasing partymen and the occasional altercations with rivals – he has also had to walk a very fine line at home.

With three wives and six children, it hasn’t always been easy.

Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, one of Kalaignar’s greatest political rivals, often brought up how he had “power centres at home” in reference to his wives.

Image created by Akruti Rao and Jaseem Ali

Karunanidhi's first wife was Padmavathi, who died very early.

His first son, MK Muthu, was born to Padmavathi in 1948.

Padmavathi died the same year of tuberculosis. Her jewellery had been pledged to help pay the running costs of ‘Murasoli’, which eventually became the DMK’s official newspaper.

MK Muthu had great ambitions of being an actor.

He idolised MG Ramachandran, a close friend of Kalaignar at the t