Karunanidhi in hospital: Rahul Gandhi visits DMK chief at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday visited ailing DMK chief M Karunanidhi who was readmitted to Kauvery Hospital in Chennai and underwent a surgery on Friday. DMK's general body meeting that was scheduled to take place on December 20 has also been indefinitely postponed due to the party chief's ill health.

"I wanted to personally wish him a speedy recovery, happy to see that he is doing well. Doctors say that he (Karunanidhi) will go home pretty soon. I said hello to him, Congress president has also sent her regards," Gandhi told reporters outside the hospital.

Ninety-two-year-old Karunanidhi was hospitalised for a second time in three weeks on Thursday night after he complained of breathing problem due to a lung and throat infection. He underwent a tracheostomy — surgically creating an opening through the neck into the trachea (windpipe) to allow direct access to the breathing tube — on Friday.

The DMK chief had been hospitalised over a week ago due to a drug-induced allergy. Doctors had said that he had been admitted for nutrition and hydrational support. He was allowed to go home a week later. The allergy had kept Karunanidhi out of public life for over a month.

Kauvery Hospital issued a medical bulletin saying that "Karunanidhi is stable." Antibiotics were being given to treat him and he was being monitored by a group of doctors, executive director of Kauvery Hospital Dr S Aravindan said. Senior DMK leaders visited the party chief to enquire about his health.