TheKarunanidhi family are an Indianpolitical family who have had considerable influence in the politics and cinema ofTamil Nadu. The most notable member of the family wasM. Karunanidhi who was theChief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and was theDMK party leader from 1969 till 2018.

Karunanidhi's grandnephewDayanidhi Maran has been the union cabinet minister for two terms, once as a Minister of Information and Technology and once as a Minister of Textiles. One of Karunanidhi's sons,M. K. Stalin, is the 7th and current chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has been a five-timeMLA in Tamil Nadu Legislative assembly and a one-time deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; another son,M. K. Alagiri, was the Minister of Chemicals in the central cabinet and also the co-ordinator for South Tamil Nadu for DMK. His daughterKanimozhi is a Member of the Parliament in Lok Sabha. His grandnephewKalanidhi Maran is the owner of theSun Network, the second largest TV network in India and alsoSun Pictures, a Tamil movie production company. The fourth generation of the family comprising Arivunithi,Dayanidhi Azhagiri,Udhayanidhi Stalin, Member of Legislative assembly andArulnithi are involved in the Tamil cinema industry.

The large presence of Karunanidhi's family members both in the central government and state government has led to accusations of political nepotism.^[1][2] Two of the family members,Kanimozhi andDayanidhi Maran, had been charged byCentral Bureau of Investigation for their alleged involvement in the2G spectrum case. However, CBI failed to prove charges against the two, and the Delhi High Court acquitted both the accused.^[3]The fourth generation of the family is accused of using political clout in their favour in the Tamil cinema industry.^[4]

Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 - 7 August 2018)^[5] was the head ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),^[6] aDravidian political party in the state ofTamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder,C. N. Annadurai, in 1969,^[7] though the party had leading stalwarts inNedunchezhian,E. V. K. Sampath,K. A. Mathiazhagan,Nanjil K. Manoharan andK. Anbazhagan, who were calledAim perum Thalaivargal meaning five great leaders.^[8] He has served as chief minister five times (1969–71, 1971–76, 1989–91, 1996–2001 and 2006–2011). He holds the record of winning his seat in every election in which he has participated in a political career spanning more than 60 years.^[9][10][11] He is also aplaywright andscreenwriter inTamil cinema.

He married three times; his wives are the late Padmavathy, Dayalu and Rajathi.^[12][13][14]

He has four sons, namely M. K. Muthu,M. K. Alagiri,M. K. Stalin, and M. K. Tamilarasu and two daughters, Selvi andKanimozhi Karunanidhi. M. K. Muthu, his eldest son, was born to Padmavathy, who died early. Azhagiri, Stalin, Selvi and Tamilarasu were born to Dayalu, while Kanimozhi is the only daughter from his third wife, Rajathi.

Murasoli Maran (Tamil:முரசொலி மாறன்) (17 August 1934 – 23 November 2003) was an important leader of theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and the nephew ofM. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament for 36 years, he was made a Union Minister in three separate central governments, in charge of Urban Development in the V.P. Singh government, Industry in the Gowda and Gujral governments, and finally Commerce and Industry under Vajpayee.^[15] Apart from being a politician, Maran was a journalist and scriptwriter for films too.^[16] He was the editor of the DMK party paper, Murasoli and hence got the title appended to his name.

DMK has been accused by opponents, by some members of the party, and by other political observers of trying to promotenepotism and start a political dynasty along the lines of the Nehru-Gandhi family.Vaiko, who quit the DMK, has been the most vocal. Political observers say that Vaiko was sidelined as he was seen as a threat toM. K. Stalin and other family members.

Karunanidhi's nephew, the lateMurasoli Maran, was aUnion Minister; however, it has been pointed out that he was in politics long before Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister in 1969. He was arrested several times, including in theAnti-Hindi agitations in 1965. He was asked to contest the by-election for South Madras in 1967 and the nomination papers were signed by Rajaji, Annadurai and Mohammed Ismail (Quaid-e-Millath), demonstrating that his political career was not built entirely on his relation to Karunanidhi.^[17]

Many political opponents and DMK party senior leaders have been critical of the rise of M. K. Stalin in the party. But some of the party men have pointed out that Stalin has come up on his own. He has faced a lot of hardship since 1975, when he was jailed under theMaintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and was beaten up in jail so brutally during the Emergency that a fellow DMK party prisoner died trying to save him.^[18] Stalin was an MLA in 1989 and 1996 when his father Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister, but he was not inducted into the Cabinet. He became Chennai's 44th mayor and its first directly elected mayor in 1996. It was only in his fourth term as MLA that he was made a Minister in the Karunanidhi cabinet and then in 2009 was made theDeputy Chief Minister.

Karunanidhi has been accused of helping Murasoli Maran's sonKalanidhi Maran, who runsSun Network, India's second largest television network. According to Forbes, Kalanidhi is among India's richest 20, with $2.9 billion.^[19] Again commentators say that he raised himself into the position on his own merit and even Karunanidhi's sons have achieved nothing compared to him which has been a cause of friction between them. His channels have been the mouth organ of the DMK party (until recent time) and balanced the Jaya TV of the AIADMK.

Another son of Maran's,Dayanidhi Maran, is a former Union Minister for Communications and IT portfolio, not broadcasting ministry, which is responsible for TV networks. Dayanidhi Maran was withdrawn from the IT and Communications portfolio at Center (he was a Union Minister for IT and Communications) because Dinakaran survey poll controversy. He was later given the MP seat in the 2009 general elections from DMK party and subsequently became the Minister of Textiles in the union government.

The Dinakaran newspaper case was handed over to the CBI. But the District and Sessions court acquitted all the 17 accused in that case.^[20] So far, the case has not been appealed in a higher court to identify and punish the perpetrators of the crime.

Karunanidhi's daughterKanimozhi is a member of parliament in Lok Sabha.

In 2006 May,Dinakaran, the newspaper run by Kalanidhi Maran ran into a controversy when it published the results of a series of opinion polls which showedM. K. Stalin having more approval (70%) than his elder brotherM. K. Azhagiri (2%) as the political heir of Karunanidhi. It also showed others as 20%, possibly indicating Dayanidhi Maran and Kanimozhi. The Madurai office ofDinakaran was fire bombed by supporters of Alagiri and three employees were killed^[21] The Sun TV office in Madurai was also attacked by the perpetrators.^[22] A day after the incident, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi came to Chennai for felicitating Karunanidhi for 50 years in legislative assembly. Dayanidhi Maran, who usually accompanies Karunanidhi on every function, discarded the event as a mark of protest. On 13 May, the DMK administrative committee empowered Karunanidhi to remove Dayanidhi from the party. This subsequently led to his resignation from the central ministry.^[23] Karunanidhi family startedKalaignar TV to counterSun TV of the Marans that started focusing on opposition leaders who were vociferous on Alagiri and also covering the 2G Spectrum case on minister A Raja, the DMK minister replacing Dayanidhi in the Union IT ministry.^[24] There were several attempts of reconciliation by the Marans, with two public meeting, once during Stalin's birthday in March 2008 and other during May when Karunanidhi was discharged from a Chennai hospital having been treated for neck and back pain.^[25] But when the Marans went to greet Karunanidhi on his 85th birthday on 3 Jun 2008, they were made to wait for an hour before finally denying entry.^[25] The family later reconciled with the efforts of Selvi and M K Stalin. While the reason for reconciliation is not known, it was rumoured that the family reconciled to keep the third wife, Rajathi and her daughter Kanimozhi away from the family - that Kanimozhi was missing in the family reunion picture supported this argument.^[26]

On scientific corruption and ‘recommendation letters’

The Sarkaria Commission was constituted in February 1976, soon after the DMK government was dismissed by the Indira Gandhi dispensation. It is said that Justice Sarkaria was so taken in by the ingenuity with which public funds were embezzled that he described it as “scientific corruption”. However, there appears to be no record in the public domain of him having used the term.

As per the chargesheet filed byCBI, Kanimozhi has 20% stake in her family ownedKalaignar TV, her step-mother Dayalu owns 60% stake in the same channel.^[27] CBI alleges that Kanimozhi was an "active brain" behind the channel's operations^[27] and she worked along with former telecom ministerA. Raja to get DB Realty promoterShahid Balwa to circuitously route₹2 billion (US$24 million) toKalaignar TV.^[28] According to CBI, Kanimozhi was in regular touch with A Raja regarding launching of Kalaignar TV channel and its other pending works.^[28] CBI alleges that A Raja was further pursuing the cause of Kalaignar TV not only for getting registration of the company fromMinistry of Information and Broadcasting but also for getting it in theDTH operatorTATA Sky's bouquet.^[28]The charges levelled against her are criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy under section 120-B, cheating under section 420 & forgery under sections 468 and 471. Booked under thePrevention of Corruption Act.^[29][30]She was taken into custody (arrested) by CBI on 20 May 2011.^[31][32] and granted bail on 28 November 2011 after spending 188 days in judicial custody.^[33][34] As of May 2012, trial is being conducted in Special CBI Court.^[35]

Dayanidhi Maran was forced to resign from his Textiles Ministry in the central government on account corruption charges levelled against him in the2G spectrum case.^[36] Dayanidhi has been accused of criminal conspiracy by theCBI on charges under Prevention of Corruption Act.^[37] An FIR or formal complaint has been filed against Dayanidhi and his brother,Kalanithi Maran, the owner ofSun Network in Tamil Nadu.^[36] The homes and offices of the Marans in Delhi and Chennai were raided on 10 October 2011 in connection with the CBI's efforts to prove that when he was telecom minister, Dayanidhi misused his office to help an entrepreneur fromMalaysia named T Ananda Krishnan to acquire one of India's biggest telecoms,Aircel.^[36] The CBI alleged that in return, Mr Ananda Krishnan invested more than Rs. 6 billion in Dayanidhi's brother Kalanidhi owned Sun Network.^[36]

The issue of succession of party and the political leadership has always been oriented towards Azhagiri and Stalin, the brothers and apparent political heirs of Karunanidhi. The general council of 3 February 2012 fuelled heated debates on who should be the successor and finally lead to a conclusion of Karunanidhi remaining the head, putting the topic of succession to a temporary end.^[38] Azhagiri garners support from Southern Tamil Nadu, which is termed as his political stronghold. The 2011 assembly election drubbing put his power under scanner with the party losing most in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu.^[38] Stalin was seen as the natural heir after he was given the post of Mayor ofChennai Corporation during October 2001 and subsequently the Deputy Chief Minister post of Tamil Nadu government on 29 May 2009. The survey poll conducted byDinakaran newspaper of the Marans created further feud in the family. In a wikileaks revealed cable sent on 9 July 2009, the then US counsel General Andrew T Simkin predicted that M K Azhagiri will contest with Stalin for power once his father leaves the scene, but will be finally prevailed by M K Stalin, who is more acceptable.^[39] It also touched upon Azhagiri's noteirty and pugnacious tactics for his alleged involvement in Ta Krittinan murder case, for which he was arrested in 2003 and also on the attack of Dinakaran newspaper office in 2007.^[39]

There are allegations on a large set of family members of Karunanidhi entering into Tamil film distribution and production on account of political backup.^[4] "Karunanidhi has used his political might to thrust his entire family on Tamil cinema," said Thuglak editorCho Ramaswamy, in one of the interviews that fuelled a retort from Karunanidhi, "If Prithvi Raj Kapoor’s family is in films till today, if Rajnikanth’s daughter can produce movies and his son-in-law Dhanush can act, what is wrong if my grandsons Kalanidhi, Udayanidhi, Dayanidhi, Arlunidhi and Arivunidihi are into film-making? It is just another conspiracy by the threaded class (Brahmins) because I work for the Dravidian community" after laying the foundation stone for a colony for film workers on 23 August 2010.^[4] The feeling of political might is supported by the production of films by family members starting ventures, leavingSun Pictures during the DMK government during 2006–2011.^[4] The distributors also complained of level-playing field with the political clout involved in distribution of films.^[4]

Bold denotes posts still held by the Karunanidhi family.

• Political families of the world
• Political families of India