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Top All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Kalimuthu, whose tenure as Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker was marred by controversial rulings, died of cardiac arrest at a corporate hospital on Wednesday.
He was 64 and is survived by his wife, four sons and five daughters.
Kalimuthu's body, which was shifted to his house from Apollo Hospital, will be taken to his native village Ramaveeranpatti in Virudhunagar district. The funeral will be held on Thursday, family sources said.
A powerful orator and writer, Kalimuthu entered politics after leading an anti-Hindi agitation in 1965.
Attracted by the Dravidian ideology, he joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam during his student days and was elected to the state Assembly for the first time in 1971.
He supported late M G Ramchandran when the latter was expelled from the party in 1972. He was one of the few MLAs who crossed over from the DMK to the AIADMK that year.