Rahul, along with Sonia, to attend MK statue unveiling

A busy Rahul who has been engrossed in choosing Chief Ministerial candidates of the party in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was understood to have given his word to Stalin on attending the function, DMK sources told DTNext.

Notably, the name of the incumbent Congress president has not been included in the invitation circulated by DMK. When asked, DMK sources said the Congress chief has requested them to keep it under wraps, but he has confirmed his participation to them.

Rahul is expected to arrive by 4pm and head to the DMK headquarters where his mother Sonia Gandhi would unveil the life-size statue of Karunanidhi in the presence of DMK leaders and Chief Ministers Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), V Narayanasamy (Puducherry) and Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala).

The leaders would later attend a massive rally at YMCA ground in Royapettah where the unveiling would be aired live on a giant screen.

The Gandhis, especially Sonia who could not attend the funeral of Karunanidhi due to illness, would pay floral tributes at the Dravidian stalwart’s memorial on the Marina before starting back to the national capital.

Originally scheduled for the middle of November, coinciding with the 100th day since Karunanidhi’s death, the function was delayed after the ruling AIADMK did not accept DMK’s application to erect the statue within OSR land on Arivayalam campus. DMK had moved the statue outside the OSR limit and close to façade to circumvent the obstacle posed by the government.