Jayalalithaa turns 65

Chennai: AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa turned 65 on Sunday.

The Chief Minister, nursing the ambition of playing a bigger role at the national level post next parliamentary elections, had asked her partymen to win all 40 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, in her recent birthday message. She had said securing all 40 Lok Sabha seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry) would only give her happiness and told the party workers to "start working towards that goal from today itself," something which she has been highlighting of late. The CM asked her supporters to desist from any grandeur to mark her birthday and instead distribute welfare to people. Partymen organised mass-feeding, blood donation and other activities even as banners and posters dotted the city walls hailing the `Puratchi Thalaivi` (Revolutionary Leader). Jayalalithaa, addressed affectionately as `Amma`, meaning mother in Tamil by her supporters had made it clear that her party will go alone in the next polls, indicating that she is keeping her options open on political alignment and government formation. Partymen celebrated Jayalalithaa`s birthday by distributing clothes and other assistance to the poor people across the state while special prayers were also held. A 65 kg cake was cut at the party headquarters by ministers and distributed to public while the Chief Minister herself had launched a massive 65-lakh tree saplings planting drive to mark her birthday recently. In her third term as Chief Minister of the state, Jayalalithaa, also a yesteryear actor, was initiated into politics by her mentor and AIADMK founder late MG Ramachandran, himself matinee icon in Tamil cinema history. PTI