Karunanidhi celebrates his birthday with wife Dayalu and (above) with his daughter Kanimozhi and her mother Rajathi. (PTI)

Chennai, June 3: His 86th birthday has turned out to be a special one for M. Karunanidhi. Unlike last year, his sons are no longer at loggerheads nor is the succession issue a thorn in his side.

The results were there for all to see today — the Tamil Nadu chief minister looked much happier and relaxed as he sat in his wheelchair accepting greetings from thousands of party cadres and officials.

There was a major difference, though. This year, the cadres were not allowed to approach him, hand over the ponnaadai (shawl), touch his feet or and seek his blessings.

Instead, Karunanidhi sat on the dais of the sprawling Kalaignar Arangam — a huge auditorium inside the DMK party complex — and the people filed past him along white cloth-covered railings that fenced in the leader.

The official reason given for Karunanidhi “keeping the distance” was that he required protection against infection after his recent illness.

The task of bridging the physical and psychological gap was left to his son and deputy chief minister M.K. Stalin. He stood along the route taken by the people, accepting shawls and garlands brought as gifts. Some workers even touched his feet as they did not have direct access to his father.

“Today’s celebrations reminded one of being in a temple where the deity is at a respectable distance and the devotee has to conduct all his transactions only through the poojari,” joked a DMK minister.

But neither the deity nor the devotee complained. It was obvious to all that the ceremony was an indirect but effective way of consolidating Stalin’s position as the unchallenged number two.

In keeping with the significance of the occasion, all seven DMK ministers skipped the Prime Minister’s customary introduction of his team. Manmohan Singh himself explained that they were at Karunanidhi’s birthday. No MP, save T.R. Baalu, was present.

To mark the birthday, the Corporation of Chennai, under Stalin’s protégé M. Subramaniam, launched a scheme under which infants born in its hospitals and given a Tamil name would get a gold ring.

Health minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam, another Stalin follower, inaugurated a free eye camp for 24 lakh children of Classes VI-VIII in government and aided schools.