Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Friday was discharged from Kauvery Hospital in Chennai’s Alwarpet area. He was admitted to the hospital on December 16 after he complained of breathing problems caused by lung and throat infection. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, former Union Minister P Chidambaram and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president S Thirunavukarasar had visited the veteran DMK leader in the hospital.

The hospital on Thursday had said Karunanidhi would be discharged after his antibiotics course was completed and said that he had been recovering well. This was the second time in a month that the 92-year-old former Tamil Nadu chief minister was hospitalised. On December 1, he was admitted for nutritional treatment and hydration. He was discharged on December 7.

The DMK chief had undergone a tracheotomy to help him breathe. Tracheotomy is a surgical procedure conducted to create an opening in the neck of a patient for direct access to the windpipe (trachea).