Like Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi deserves to be given space on Marina Beach: Rahul

Amid a controversy over AIADMK government's rejection of DMK's demand for giving space for M Karunanidhi's burial at the Marina Beach in Chennai, Congress President Rahul Gandhi today said the DMK patriarch deserves a space there like former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Gandhi said he was sure the current leaders of Tamil Nadu will be "magnanimous" in this time of grief.

"Like Jayalalitha ji, Kalaignar was an expression of the voice of the Tamil people. That voice deserves to be given space on Marina Beach. I am sure the current leaders of Tamil Nadu will be magnanimous in this time of grief," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Gandhi's remarks came after a controversy erupted tonight following the Tamil Nadu government's rejection of the opposition DMK's demand for allotting space on the Marina beach for the burial of Karunanidhi.

The AIADMK offered space near the memorials of former chief ministers C Rajagopalachari and K Kamraj.

DMK working president M K Stalin, recalling the long public life of Karunanidhi, had written to Chief Minister K Palaniswami seeking space inside the mausoleum complex of the departed leader's mentor C N Annadurai at the Marina.

Stalin had also met the chief minister hours before his father's death.

A government statement said it was "unable to allot space at Marina beach owing to several pending cases in the Madras High Court and legal complications".

Karunanidhi died in Chennai today after waging a grim battle for life for 11 days.