Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi took the state and his DMK party by surprise on Saturday announcing his retirement post World Classical Tamil Conference to be held in Coimbatore in June.

Addressing a meeting organised by community organisation Arundathi Makkal Katchi, 85-year-old Karunanidhi said: "After the construction of new assembly complex, inaugurating of Anna Centenary Library and World Classical Tamil Conference I will be one amongst you shorn of ministerial trappings."