NAMAKKAL: Soon after a temple constructed in honour of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha made the news, followers of former CM Karunanidhi have also come up with a temple dedicated to the DMK leader. The temple, which is estimated to cost around Rs30 lakh, is being built at Kuchikkad village in Namakkal. It is indeed to interesting to find that followers are building a temple for Karunanidhi, an atheist and a leader who propagated rational ideals among Tamil people.

It is learnt that the temple named, Pagutharivu Aalayam is being built by a Dalit community called Arunthathiyar as a tribute to Karunanidhi for allowing them 3% reservations in education and government jobs. Arundhathiyar committee president Chinnasamy said, "We decided to build the temple soon after hearing the news of Karunanidhi's death. Since then we have been collecting fund for the construction." It is the women collective of the DMK which is taking care of the construction works.

Earlier, a temple was constructed in honour of late CM Jayalalitha by AIADMK counsellor M Swaminathan. The temple which cost around Rs 2 lakhs, had a huge portrait of Jayalalitha along with portraits of former CMs Annadurai and MGR.