Private bus operators have decided to stop their services to and from Chennai till Wednesday evening as large number of passengers have cancelled their tickets and also as a precautionary measure, said an office-bearer of All Omni Bus Operators Association.

"About 75-85 per cent of the passengers decided to cancel their tickets on Wednesday. As a result, the bus operators have decided to cancel the services to and from Chennai till 6 p.m tomorrow (Thursday)," A. Anbalagan, general secretary, All Omni Bus Operators Association told IANS.

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam paid their last respects to DMK President M. Karunanidhi here on Wednesday.

People from different walks of life -- leaders, actors, industrialists and others -- also paid homage to their departed leader, whose mortal remains have been kept at the Rajaji Hall.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that rapes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh shelter homes are "sad and shameful" and assured that steps would be taken to prevent recurrence of such acts and that no culprit would escape action.

The AIADMK government circumvented the rule against construction of memorials along the beach by burying J Jayalalithaa in an existing memorial for her mentor MG Ramachandran.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday expressed grief over the death of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi and said like former Chief Minister Jayalalitha, Kalaignar was an expression of the voice of the Tamil people and deserves to be given space on Marina Beach.

Former Prime Minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh expressed his condolence on the death of DMK President M. Karunanidhi and wrote to his son M.K Stalin saying that the country has lost a versatile genius.

The national flag will fly half-mast on Wednesday as a mark of respect to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi who died at a Chennai hospital on Tuesday, a government statement said on Tuesday.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi was one of the last links to the Dravidian movement that ushered in the rise of backward classes in politics and the end of Congress rule in Tamil Nadu five decades ago on the plank of social justice.