NEW DELHI: In a rare departure from convention, Houses of Parliament were on Wednesday adjourned for the day after paying tributes to former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi who died on Tuesday evening. The government had already declared a national mourning for Wednesday.

Though the Houses are not adjourned unless a sitting member dies, leaders of various political parties favoured adjournment of the proceedings to pay respect to the departed leader and conveyed their views to both RS chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan before the start of the day’s proceedings.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said the government was in favour of adjournment. A similar departure was made when AIADMK chief and former TN CM Jayalalitha died in December 2016. Both Houses were adjourned for the day after a obituary reference was read and a moment of silence was observed.

