Ramanatha Iyer – a straightforward, upright person with Gandhian principles who was called ‘Tiger of the bar’ in Tenkasi.

By sheer hard work and perseverance, he had a roaring practice, soon he established an office for himself and expanded it with four colleagues and two juniors.

He was married to Amala in 1974 and has 4 children namely: Mohan Arunachalam, Sangeetha, Priya, Deepan Arunachalam As a mere party volunteer, he was Youth Congress Secretary in Tirunelveli (District Congress Committee).

In 1977 he first contested, won and became the Member of Parliament from Tenkasi constituency and continued to hold the seat till 1998.

M. Arunachalam died of cardiac arrest on 21 January 2004 in Chennai at the age of 60.