குமரிக்கோட்டம்

C.N. Annadurai popularly known as Anna was a prominent Indian Tamil politician who served as the fourth and last Chief Minister of Madras State from 1967 until 1969 and the first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days before his death. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold either post. Annadurai was well-known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language. He scripted and acted in several plays and used Tamil cinema extensively for political propaganda. He rose to prominence as a member of the Dravidar Kazhagam party but parted ways with his political mentor Periyar E. V. Ramasamy to launch his own party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He dropped the claim for an independent Dravida Nadu and led his party to a landslide victory in the 1967 state elections. He implemented policies such as legalising Self-Respect marriages enforcing a two language policy implementing subsidies for rice and renaming Madras State to Tamil Nadu. He died of cancer just two years into office and his funeral had the highest attendance of any to that date. Several institutions and organisations are named after him and M. G. Ramachandran launched a splinter party named after him as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in 1972.