Chennai: The thousand watt smile on the face of the grand Old man of Tamil Nadu and for that matter India’s politics, DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, tells the tale of how relieved the father is that his daughter Kanimozhi and his political pupil and dalit poster boy A Raja got acquittal from 2G Spectrum case.

After a rousing reception at the airport from DMK leaders, cadres including DMK working president MK Stalin, the victorious duo – who won acquittal in the 2G case after seven year legal battle – drove to Karunanidhi’s Gopalapuram residence to share the joy and happiness with him.

Kanimozhi explained in detail to her Appa what all happened. “It was over in just five minutes, the moment we went in we were told we all can go,” she told Karunanidhi as tears of joy welled up in his eyes.

Raja too touched the feet of his mentor and the man responsible for his meteoric rise in the DMK, and told him how his strong support meant a lot to him.

Outside the residence of Karunanidhi in Gopalapuram, hundreds of party leaders and cadres congregated and celebrated the victorious moment from early in the morning, just like at aiport.

It was 12.20 p.m. when Stalin came out of the airport with Raja and Kanimozhi, who were immediately swooped away by their supporters onto the dais where they were felicitated. This lasted for over half an hour.

After giving time for cadres to meet and greet the two leaders, Stalin came, hugged his sister and garlanded the duo. From airport, Stalin drove to TNCC where a felicitation ceremony for the birth anniversary of former TNCC chief EVKS Elangovan was held. Among those present were Vaiko and former union finance minister P Chidambaram.