Chennai: Former DMK minister Parithi Ilamvazhuthi passed away here this morning owing to illness.
Parithi was continuously DMK MLA from 1989-2011 and represented Egmore constituency in Chennai.
From 1996-2001 he was the Deputy Speaker of the Tamilnadu Assembly.
In 2013, he quit the DMK and became a card-holding member of the AIADMK. Before his death, he was part of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, founded by ousted AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran.
DMK president M K Stalin today paid his last respects to Parithi at his Besant Nagar residence. Speaking to mediapersons, Stalin recalled that Parithi had single-handedly tackled the ruling party, led by J Jayalalithaa when the DMK was out of power, in the Assembly.
Expressing his condolences to the family, he said Parithi’s death saddened him.