If she loses certainly her party would go in disarray. Born in Mandya in Mysore but worshipped as Goddess in Neighbouring Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha popularly known as Amma is making all efforts to regain her lost glory. For this Puratchi Thalavi (revolutionary leader), this 2011 Assembly Elections it is now or never. She must win. Already there are visible signs of restlessness in the rank and file of her-the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AI-ADMK), which she leads. They want power Again and she must deliver.
As a student, she was brilliant. Her first love was Law. Who Knows, if she had pursued this, she would have become first Chief Justice of India in the Supreme Court
and not ended up as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in Fort St George. While she was still studying in Presentation Convent on the Mount Road in Chennai then Madras, she was pulled out and Made to join films by her mother because their finanancial crisis. In some people lives, one thing leads to another. This happened to Jayalalitha too. The great matinee idol at her time in the Crazy Tamil film world, M G Ramachandran (MGR) fell for this teenage beauty.
Together, they acted in many films and film Makers queued up to sign them. Tamil writer and journalist Vaasanthi portrays Jalyaliltha’s journey like this: “J Jayalitha, one of India’s enigmatic political figures, came into politics with three disadvantages of sorts: she was a film star, a woman and a Brahmin”.
However, over the years, she has transformed herself into a charismatic leader of a Dravidian Party that was left rudderless after the death of the Iconic M G Ramachandran refers to as MGR or vathiyar (teacher or leader). It wasn’t easy to step into the shoes of a man revered as “God” by his supporters, but she did so with fortitude, fighting all the way “the crude, male-centric, sexist politics of Tamil nadu.
She plunged into mainstream politics when she was made the Propaganda Secretary by her Mentor MGR. She entered the Rajya Sabha in 1984. Heads turned whenever she entered the house. Legendary journalist Khushwant Singh described Jayalalitha as an embodiment of beauty and brain.
MGR died in 1987. The mantle of leadership fell on Jayalalitha She won a major elective political battle when her party in alliance with the Congress registered a thumping victory. In 1991 Assembly elections, She became the Chief Minister For the first time in Tamil Nadu. This victory gave her a tremendous self belief that she could reach pinnacle of power without others help.
This victory also infused in her ambitions of scaling new heights—the national politics. She had a tie-up with the BJP in 1998 but broke away because Vajpayee refused to bail her out of court cases. She became increasingly unpredictable. She attended the famous tea party of Sonia Gandhi but openly attacked her on the foreign origin issue. As time went on, she started losing credibility in the political company. She is seen as an unreliable ally at the National politics. The forthcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu would decide her political future and alliance with other political parties.
