The Karunanidhi family is an Indian family that has had considerable influence on the politics and cinema of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The most well-known member of the family was M. Karunanidhi, who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and was the leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a prominent political party in the state, from 1969 to 2018. The family traces its roots to Thiruvarur in Central Tamil Nadu, and later settled in the state capital of Chennai.
Karunanidhi married thrice, and had four sons and two daughters. His eldest son M. K. Muthu was an actor in the Tamil film industry. His second son M. K. Alagiri served as a union minister in the Second Manmohan Singh ministry from 2009 to 2013. His youngest son, M. K. Stalin, served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 2021 to 2026. His youngest daughter, Kanimozhi, is a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. His grandsons include Udhayanidhi Stalin, Dayanidhi Azhagiri, and Arulnidhi Tamilarasu, who are all involved in Tamil cinema. Udhayanidhi also served as the deputy chief minister of the state.
His extend family includes Murasoli Maran, who was born to Shanmugasundari, the elder sister of Karunanidhi. Maran served as a member of the Parliament for 36 years, and held various ministerial positions during his tenure. His younger brother, Murasoli Selvam, was a journalist, and married Karunanidhi's elder daughter Selvi. Maran's sons include, Kalanidhi Maran, the founder of the media conglomerate Sun Group, and Dayanidhi Maran, who is a member of parliament and has previously served as a cabinet minister.
The significant presence of Karunanidhi's family members in the central and state governments has led to accusations of political nepotism. Two members of the family, Kanimozhi and Dayanidhi Maran, were charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation, for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum case, from which they were later acquitted by the Delhi High Court. The later generations of the family has faced criticism for allegedly using political influence to gain advantages in the Tamil film industry.
M. Karunanidhi
Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 - 7 August 2018)"Karunanidhi's Kutumbam". The Indian Express was the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N. Annadurai, in 1969, though the party had leading stalwarts in Nedunchezhian, E. V. K. Sampath, K. A. Mathiazhagan, Nanjil K. Manoharan and K. Anbazhagan, who were called Aim perum Thalaivargal meaning five great leaders.Ramaswamy 2007, p. 61 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."Karunanidhi wins for record 11th time" - Sify.com He is also a playwriter and screenwriter in Tamil cinema.
Karunanidhi married thrice, to Padmavathi, Dayalu Ammal, and Rajathi Ammal, and had four sons and two daughters. His eldest son M. K. Muthu was an actor in the Tamil film industry. His second son M. K. Alagiri served as a union minister in the Second Manmohan Singh ministry from 2009 to 2013. His youngest son, M. K. Stalin, served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 2021 to 2026. His youngest daughter, Kanimozhi, is a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. His grandsons include Udhayanidhi Stalin, Dayanidhi Azhagiri, and Arulnidhi Tamilarasu, who are all involved in Tamil cinema. Udhayanidhi Stalin currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, having previously served as the deputy chief minister of the state from 2024 to 2026.
His extended family includes Murasoli Maran, who was born to Shanmugasundari, the elder sister of Karunanidhi. Maran served as a member of the Parliament for 36 years, and held various ministerial positions during his tenure. His younger brother, Murasoli Selvam, was a journalist, and married Karunanidhi's elder daughter Selvi. Maran's sons include Kalanidhi Maran, the founder of the media conglomerate Sun Group, and Dayanidhi Maran, who is a member of parliament and has previously served as a cabinet minister.
The significant presence of Karunanidhi's family members in the central and state governments has led to accusations of political nepotism. Two members of the family, Kanimozhi and Dayanidhi Maran, were charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum case, from which they were later acquitted by the Delhi High Court. The later generations of the family have faced criticism for allegedly using political influence to gain advantages in the Tamil film industry.
Family tree
Muthuvel m. Anjugam Shanmugasundari Murasoli Maran (1934–2003)murasaki amirtham Kalanithi Maran (b. 1965) Kaviya Maran (b. 1992) Dayanidhi Maran (b. 1966) Murasoli Selvam (d. 2024) m. Selvi M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018) m. Padmavathi (d. 1948) M. K. Muthu (b. 1948) Thenmozhi Dharaneeshwari m. Aakash Baskaran m. Dayalu Ammal (b. 1933) M. K. Alagiri (b. 1951) Dayanidhi Azhagiri M. K. Stalin (b. 1953) m. Durga Stalin Udhayanidhi Stalin (b. 1977) m. Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi Inbanidhi Senthamarai Stalin m. Sabareesan Vedamurthy Selvi m. Murasoli Selvam (d. 2024) M. K. Tamilarasu Arulnidhi Tamilarasu (b. 1987) m. Rajathi Ammal (b. 1945) Kanimozhi (b. 1968)
Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran () (17 August 1934 – 23 November 2003) was an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and the nephew of M. 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. Apart from being a politician, Maran was a journalist and scriptwriter for films too. He was the editor of the DMK party paper, Murasoli and hence got the title appended to his name.
Controversy
Allegations of nepotism DMK has been accused by opponents, by some members of the party, and by other political observers of trying to promote nepotism 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 to M. K. Stalin and other family members.
Karunanidhi's nephew, the late Murasoli Maran, was a Union 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 the Anti-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.Maran – the eyes and ears of DMK in Delhi
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 the Maintenance 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. 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 the Deputy Chief Minister.
Karunanidhi has been accused of helping Murasoli Maran's son Kalanidhi Maran, who runs Sun Network, India's second largest television network. According to Forbes, Kalanidhi is among India's richest 20, with $2.9 billion. 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.The Hindu : All acquitted in Dinakaran case So far, the case has not been appealed in a higher court to identify and punish the perpetrators of the crime.
Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi is a member of parliament in Lok Sabha.
Marans vs Azhagiri 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 showed M. K. Stalin having more approval (70%) than his elder brother M. K. Azhagiri (2%) as the political heir of Karunanidhi. It also showed others as 20%, possibly indicating Dayanidhi Maran and Kanimozhi. The Madurai office of Dinakaran was fire bombed by supporters of Alagiri and three employees were killed The Sun TV office in Madurai was also attacked by the perpetrators.Phandis 2009, p. 145 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. Karunanidhi family started Kalaignar TV to counter Sun 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.Outlook, Volume XLVIII, No. 51, p. 15 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.Outlook Volume XLVIII, No. 28, p. 18 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. 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.
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.
2G Spectrum Case