Jayalalithaa emerged as the political heir to MGR and was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in 1989 and became the first women leader of opposition in Tamil Nadu.
In 1991, she joined hands with Congress for assembly elections, in the aftermath of Rajiv gandhi's assassination and became the Chief Minister oF tanil Nadu. She lost power in 1996.
She became CM once again in 2001 in 2011.
It is interesting to note that In 1997, Jayalalithaa vowed not to wear any jewelry after the DMK government confiscated all her jewelry during investigation into cases relating to owning disproportionate assets.