DMK president M.Karunanidhi, a declared atheist, on Thursday played host to a group of officials from Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) who wanted rights to a Tamil serial he had written, said a person in the know of developments.
According to the source, the TTD team, led by its chairman C.Krishnamurthy, met Karunanidhi mainly to get the rights for "Ramanujar", the story about Vaishnavite saint Ramanujam, written by the DMK leader and telecast by his family-owned Kalaignar TV.
The TTD got the rights for dubbing the serial, hugely popular amongst the Vaishnavites in the state, in Telugu to be telecast on its television channel SVBC.
It is learnt members of the TTD team recited Srinivasa Gadyam - Sanskrit blessings of Lord Venkateswara or Lord Balaji - at Karunanidhi's Gopalapuram residence and presented him with a shawl and the famed Tirupathi Laddu.