Know Your Leader Profile: J Jayalalithaa- AIADMK

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Jayalalithaa Jayaram, popularly known as J Jayalalithaa is serving Tamil Nadu as chief minister for the fifth time. She is a mass leader in the southern state and has launched a number of schemes in her name for the welfare of the people.

At the same time, Amma is also facing disproportionate assets case. Now, 68-year-old Jayalalithaa is set to face her political rivals, as the state is going for assembly elections on May 16, in a single phase.

Let's take a look at her profile:

Date and Place of Birth:

Feb 24, 1948 at Melukote in Pandavapura taluka in Mandya district of Karnataka

Brief Family history:

Jayalalithaa was born to Jayaram and Vedavalli (Sandhya) in a Tamil Iyengar Brahmin family. Her father, who was a surgeon in Mysore royal family, passed away when she was only 2-year-old.

Jayalalithaa is a multi-lingual and she is fluent with Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam and English languages.

Career as an actress:

Jayalalithaa started her acting career at the age of 15 and she went on to act in over 140 regional films in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada languages.

Her filmy career took off, as her mother, also began acting in Tamil cinema. She started singing at the of 4 and rendered her voice in many of her songs. She became proficient in Bharatnatyam, when she was just 3-year-old!

She also acted once in a Bollywood film (Izzat) with actor Dharmendra in 1968. In 1961, she acted in an English movie, Epistle.

Political career:

Jayalalithaa joined AIADMK in 1982, that was founded by Marudhur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), who was Tamil Nadu CM since 1977.

In 1983, she was selected as its candidate in the by-election for the Tiruchendur Assembly constituency.

From 1984 to 1989, she was appointed as Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu.

In 1987, AIADMK was divided into two factionS, after MGR's demise on Dec 24, 1987. One faction supported his widow-Janaki Ramachandran and other faction supported Jayalalithaa. But eventually, Janaki became Tamil Nadu's first female chief minister.

But in 1989, Jayalalithaa became the Leader of Opposition, as President's rule was imposed in Tamil Nadu, by Rajiv Gandhi.

In 1989, both the factions of AIADMK merged, when DMK was ruling the state.

A look at her stints as Tamil Nadu CM:

She first took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on June 24, 1991 and completed her tenure till May 12, 1996.

Her second tenure was short termed from May 14, 2001 to 21 September, 2001 (due to more charges against her). Then, O Panneerselvam was appointed as CM, to fill her void.

Her third term as Tamil Nadu began on March 2, 2002 and came to an end on May 12, 2006.

Her fourth tenure was from May 16, 2011 to Sept 27, 2014.

She again assumed office for the fifth time on May 23, 2015 to present.

1996 Disproportionate Assets case:

On Sept 27, 2014, Jayalalithaa was convicted in 18-year-old DA case and was sentenced to four-year jail term and was imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.

In 1996, Jayalalithaa was arrested in connection with Colour TV scam, and was sent to 30 days judicial custody.

Other lesser-known facts about Jayalalithaa:

Her name is registered in Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the "largest wedding banquet/reception" in 1995, for her 'foster son' Sudhagaran.

In 1992, she attended the mahamakam festival in Kumbakonam, when nearly 50 people were killed in a stampede.

Once, she also accepted Re 1 cheque as her salary, when she became the CM of Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa's hobby includes studying law and she has a large private library with a huge collection of books.

It is said that Jayalaithaa owns more than 10,000 sarees and over 750 pair of footwear!

Women & Children schemes:

Cradle baby scheme
All women police station