All you need to know about Tamil Nadu's 'Amma' Jayalalithaa

At the age of 66, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has been convicted under prevention of corruption act by a special court in Bangalore. She has been given a jail term of 4 years by the Bangalore special court and has been slapped a fine of 100 crores.

Special Judge John Michael D'Cunha convicted the 66-year-old AIADMK Chief in a case of owning assets to the tune Rs 66,65 crores disproportionate to her known sources of income during 1991-96 when she was chief minister for the first time.

Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala Natarajan, her niece Ilavarasi and her nephew and the chief minister's disowned foster son Sudhakaran were also convicted. The verdict was delivered at a makeshift court in the Parappana Agrahara prison complex in the presence of Jayalalithaa and the other accused.

Here's everything you need to know about J.Jayalalithaa:

*She was born on February 24, 1948, in a family that served King Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore. Her birth name is Komalavalli. 

*Jayalalithaa lost her father when she was just two, and her mother started working in films to support the family. 

*She was reluctant to work in films but soon took the cinema world by storm.

*Within the span of a few years, she had worked in all southern languages, and with cinema legends M G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, N T Rama Rao, Krishna and Gemini Ganeshan as reported by Rediff. 

*Previously she served as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996, briefly in 2001, and from 2002 to 2006. She was a popular film star in Indian cinema before her entry into politics, having appeared as the lead heroine in over 140 films which includes films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and worked in one Hindi film.

*She is the incumbent general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). She is called 'Amma' ('Mother') and sometimes 'Puratchi Thalaivi' ('Revolutionary Leader') by her followers.

*Although there have been claims that Jayalalithaa was introduced to politics by M. G. Ramachandran, she has denied this. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha elected from Tamil Nadu during 1984–89. Soon after the death of Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself as his political heir. She is the second elected female chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

*Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February 1948, at Melukote, in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Mysore State (now Karnataka) to Jayaram and Vedavalli in an Iyengar family. Her grandfather was in the service of the Mysore kingdom as a surgeon, and the prefix 'Jaya' ('the victorious') was added to the names of various family members to reflect their association with Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore. 

*She is fluent in several languages, including Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and English

*Her mother persuaded her to work in films when Jayalalithaa was 15 years old and was still in school, taking assurances from producers that shooting would take place only during summer vacations and that she would not miss her classes. Jayalalithaa acted in an English language film, Epistle, released in 1961.

She made her debut as the lead actress in Kannada films while still in school, age 15, in Chinnada Gombe (1964).

*Jayalalithaa's debut in Tamil cinema was a role in Vennira Aadai (1965), directed by C. V. Sridhar. The following year, she made her debut in Telugu cinema with Manushulu Mamathalu. She was the first heroine to appear in skirts in Tamil films. She acted in one Hindi film called Izzat, with Dharmendra as her male costar in 1968.

*Although there have been claims that Ramachandran, who had been chief minister for the state since 1977, was instrumental in introducing Jayalalithaa to politics, she has denied it.

*In 1982, she joined the AIADMK, which was founded by Ramachandran. Her maiden public speech, Pennin Perumai (the Greatness of a Woman), was delivered at the political conference of the AIADMK that year.[16] In 1983, she became propaganda secretary for the party and was selected as AIADMK candidate in the by-election for the Tiruchendur Assembly constituency.

*Ramachandran wanted her to be a member of the Rajya Sabha because of her fluency in English. Jayalalithaa was nominated and elected to that body as a Member of Parliament in 1984 and retained her seat until 1989.

*She was successful in her role as Propaganda Secretary and this caused resentment among high-ranking members of the party.

*Those members engineered a rift between her and Ramachandran, among the alleged consequences of which was that Ramachandran stopped Jayalalithaa writing about her personal life in a Tamil magazine. Despite these machinations, she remained admired by the rank and file of the party.

*In 1984, when Ramachandran was incapacitated due to a stroke, Jayalalithaa was said to have attempted to take over the position of chief minister or the party on the pretext that his health would prevent him from the proper execution of his duties. She successfully led the campaign in the 1984 general elections, in which the ADMK allied with the Congress.

*She was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 1989 as a representative of the Bodinayakkanur (State Assembly Constituency). This election saw the Jayalalithaa-led faction of the AIADMK win 27 seats and Jayalalithaa became the first woman to be elected Leader of the Opposition. In February 1989, the two factions of ADMK merged and they unanimously accepted Jayalalithaa as their leader and the "Two leaves" symbol of the party was restored.

*On 25 March 1989, quoted as one of the worst incidents to have happened in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, there was heavy violence inside the house among the ruling DMK party members and the opposition. There were Jayalilatha tearing the budget report to be read by the ruling party. Mikes were broken and shoes were thrown by Jayalalithaa. At the peak of the situation, when Jayalalithaa was about to leave the house, which is seen by a section of the media as "not until I enter the house as a Chief Minister". Though some sections of media term it as a theatrics launched by Jayalalithaa, it got a lot of media coverage and sympathy from the public.During the 1989 general elections, the ADMK allied with the Congress party and had a significant victory. The ADMK, under her leadership, won the by-elections in Marungapuri, Madurai East and Peranamallur assembly constituencies.

Track the live coverage: LIVE- Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa convicted to 4 years imprisonment in disproportionate assets case

*The Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK lost power in the 1996 elections, when it won 4 of the 168 seats that they contested.

*Jayalalithaa was herself defeated by the DMK candidate in Bargur Constituency. The outcome has been attributed to an anti-incumbency sentiment and several allegations of corruption and malfeasance against her and her ministers. The wedding event of her foster son Sudhakaran, who married a granddaughter of the Tamil film actor Shivaji Ganesan, was held on 7 September 1995 at Chennai and was viewed on large screens by over 150,000 people. The event holds two Guinness World Records: one is for the most guests at a wedding and the other is for being the largest wedding banquet. Subsequently, in November 2011, Jayalalithaa told a special court than the entire Rs. 6 Crore expenses associated with the wedding were paid by the family of the bride.

*Jayalalithaa was barred from standing as a candidate in the 2001 elections because she had been found guilty of criminal offences, including allegedly obtaining property belonging to a state-operated agency called TANSI. Although she appealed to the Supreme Court, having been sentenced to five years' imprisonment, the matter had not been resolved at the time of the elections.

Her appointment was legally voided in September 2001 when the Supreme Court ruled that she could not hold it whilst convicted of criminal acts. O. Panneerselvam, a minister in her party, was subsequently installed as the Chief Minister. However, his government was purported to have been puppeted and micro-managed by Jayalalithaa.

*On 19 December 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled her long-time close aide Sasikala Natarajan and 13 others from the AIADMK. Most of the party members welcomed her decision, and on 2 February 2012, Tehelka magazine claimed that Natarajan and some of her relatives were conspiring to kill her by poisoning her food over a period of time. The matter was resolved by 31 March, when Sasikala Natarajan was reinstated as a party member after issuing a written apology.

she has been convicted under the prevention of corruption act in sep 27 2014 for disproportionate case in bangalore by the Karnatka high court.She will be arrested and sentenced for four years.

Credits: Wikipedia