Chennai, Aug 18 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his wishes and support for the grand success of the centenary commemorative coin release ceremony in honour of former CM M. Karunanidhi.

CM Stalin in a social media post on Sunday said, "I wholeheartedly thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his kind wishes and support for the grand success of Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Centenary commemorative coin release ceremony.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter to Chief Minister Stalin saying, "Thiru Karunanidhi ji was a towering figure in Indian politics, literature and society. He was always passionate about the development of Tamil Nadu as well as the nation's progress.”

The PM further said, "This is an important occasion to commemorate the centenary of one of India’s most illustrious sons, Thiru Kalaignar Karunanidhi ji.”

PM Modi said the vision and thoughts of leaders like Kalaignar Karunanidhi will continue to shape the nation's journey, towards its goal of achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be releasing a commemorative coin for the centenary celebrations of Kalaignar Karunanidhi on Sunday in Chennai.

Karunanidhi has been one of the towering leaders of the Dravidian movement and was the founder of the DMK. He was a towering literary figure and an orator par excellence.

The late CM had written scripts for several movies and was instrumental in catapulting the iconic Tamil actor-turned-politician, MG Ramachandran into a superstar in the Tamil film industry.

Kalaignar Karunanidhi was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office. He was also the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazzhagam (DMK ) ten times.

He has a record of never losing in the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly and winning 13 times continuously. The former Chief Minister was instrumental in erecting a 133 feet statue of Tamil saint, Thiruvalluvar in Kanyakumari.