Chennai: Jayalalitha Jayaram, the tinsel town heroine who practised politics on her own terms to remain one of the main poles of Tamil Nadu politics for three decades, passed away at a hospital on Monday.
Born in a Brahmin family in Mysore in Karnataka, Jayalalithaa assumed her political avatar in 1982 after MG Ramachandran made her AIADMK's Propaganda Secretary in 1983.Mysore in Karnataka, Jayalalithaa assumed her political avatar in 1982 after MG Ramachandran made her AIADMK's Propaganda Secretary in 1983.
When Ramachandran died in 1987, Jayalalithaa was humiliated by the supporters of MGR's wife, but she stood by her leader's side for 21 hours at Rajaji Hall.
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Later, when she tried to board the gun-carriage on which MGR's body was placed, she was hit on the head by the son of the younger brother of MGR's wife Janaki.
The armed forces personnel tried to help her back on top of the carriage, but she was again pushed.
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She then decided not to attend her mentor MGR's funeral.
She faced an intense and protracted struggle to eventually head the AIADMK overcoming the animosity of rival camps led by the leaders like senior minister in the MGR cabinet RM Veerappan.
The rest, as they say, is history.
