Chennai:
Meet the parents. Specifically, M Karunanidhi's parents.
Five-feet-high statues of the Tamil Nadu chief minister's parents have been unveiled at Radhapuram in the Tirunelvelli district.
Karunanidhi had commissioned statues of his parents for the new bus terminal at Radhapuram. These were meant to be unveiled last month but those plans were abruptly cancelled, after the public put its collective foot down. The statues cost seven lakhs, but were paid for by the local MLA from Karunanidhi's DMK party.
The local panchayat over-ruled public opinion, and so, as of Friday, the statues loom above the crowd that says it doesn't want them.
The population here, dominated by Nadars, says they want to honour Nadar icons. "We want the Tamil Nadu government to grant permission for statues of Kamaraj and Kakkanji," pleads Sudalaimuthu Nadar, a resident of the area.
Opposition leader Jayalalithaa had also registered her protest against the statues.