The two-day visit, essentially to meet his daughter, coming in the wake of electoral debacle, was conspicuous by his not having a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, a privilege he enjoyed for the last seven years since DMK and Congress tied up in Tamil Nadu.
After a half-hour meeting with Karunanidhi in the hotel where he was staying, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that "all these goings on did not affect the relationship between Congress and DMK and in future also it will have no effect whatsoever".
Azad, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Tamil Nadu, said they discussed the election results in the state where the Congress-DMK alliance suffered a shattering defeat.
He said the Congress and its leadership were concerned about "the lady being inside the jail".
"Our leader Sonia Gandhi is concerned because Kanimozhi being a woman is in jail and it is a matter of concern and the fact is that one cannot do anything," Azad said.