Jayalalithaa's 74th birth anniversary: Celebrations to be held at Poes Garden today

She entered politics in 1982. The actress-turned politician gave credit to MG Ramachandran, the founder of ADMK, for introducing her to the political arena. Becoming the propaganda secretary of the party in 1983, Jayalalithaa also retained her position as the Rajya Sabha member for five years from 1984-89. After the death of Ramachandran in 1987, the ADMK split into two factions: one in favor of Ramachandran's widow Janaki and the other favoring Jayalalithaa. Janaki took over as the Chief Minister in January 1988, but the government lasted only for 24 days. 

However, the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, using Article 356 of the Indian Constitution, imposed President's rule in the state, and Janaki's government was dismissed. In 1989, Jayalalithaa became the first woman to be elected the Leader of Opposition following fresh polls. It is the same year when the two factions of the ADMK merged band unanimously accepted Jayalalithaa as their leader. The ADMK-Indian National Congress (INC) alliance won the 1991 elections, making Jayalalithaa the first woman and youngest Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. 

Having served as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister six times, the latest from May 23, 2016, it was only twice that she lost power, owing to several allegations of scams and corruption against her. In the 1996 election, the AIADMK was nearly wiped out at the hustings; Jayalalithaa herself lost her seat. The second loss occurred in 2014 when she was disqualified as the Chief Minister due to the disproportionate assets case filed against her by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy in 1996, while she was serving her first tenure as the Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa had always been a popular personality down in the South, with her followers addressing her as 'Amma'.