J. Jayalalithaa

Jayalalithaa Jayaram or J.Jayalalithaa (born February 24, 1948, Mysore) is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India (since March 2, 2002). She is also the general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (a regional party in the state). Currently in her second term, she is popularly called Amma (mother) by her followers.

Extravagant Lifestyle

Her first reign as Chief Minster was filled with blatant misuse of government property and machinery and was well publicised. One of the incidents was the marriage of her adopted son which was conducted with poor taste and extravagant show of her and her friend Sasikala's wealth. She was often compared to Imelda Marcos during her first reign. TIME magazine remarked on this particular occasion as "vulgar display of wealth". One footage showed vast numbers of footwear and empty suitcases (used to bring money to her) in her possession soon after she fell from power in 1996. She also has a huge collection of jewels which were recently the subject of income tax scruity as she was suspected of tax evasion and the gold jewellery were supposedly brought with black money. Jayalalitha has also floated her own TV station called Jaya TV which she runs in the name of Sasikala's nephew. Her extravagance nearly cost her post and she nominated a dummy candidate as the Chief Minister until she could "buy" more time to legally insert herself as Chief Minister.

Related Topics:
Imelda Marcos - TIME - Suitcase - Black money

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