Jayalalithaa's demise: Meet the family members of late Tamil Nadu chief minister

The late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa breathed her last at 11.30 pm on Monday after suffering a cardiac arrest. She had been admitted to Chennai’s Apollo Hospital since 22 September after complaining of fever and dehydration. The actress-turned-politician, who joined the AIADMK under her mentor MG Ramachandran’s tutelage, remained a spinster all her life. But while she remained at the centre of Tamil Nadu politics, her family has seldom been in the limelight. Here are a few of the prominent family members of the departed leader. N Ragachar: Jayalalithaa’s paternal grandfather. According to the book Jayalalithaa: A Portrait, written by veteran journalist Vaasanthi, he was a doctor who served the Mysore royal family during the reign of the Wadiyars. Rangaswamy Iyengar: Jayalalithaa’s maternal grandfather, hailed originally from Tamil Nadu’s Srirangam, but moved to Bangalore. According to Vaasanthi’s 2016 book, Amma: Jayalalithaa’s Journey from Movie Star to Political Queenbook, he got a job at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the Karnataka state capital. After her mother chose to enter the film industry in Chennai, Jayalalitha and brother Jaya Kumar remained in Bangalore with their grandfather, where Jayalalithaa went to the Bishop Cotton School. Jayaram: Jayalalithaa’s father Jayaram was a lawyer but died when she was just two years old. According to Jayalalithaa: A Portrait, Jayalalithaa wrote in the 1970s that her father died under mysterious circumstances after squandering the family wealth. Vedavalli: Jayalalithaa’s mother. After her husband’s death, Vedavalli went back to her grandfather’s house in Bangalore. In order to support her children, she took the job of a typist. However, unsatisfied with the meagre earnings it offered, she chose to try her luck in films. She adopted a screen name, Sandhya, and played character roles. She was instrumental in bringing Jayalalithaa into the film industry after the family suffered a financial crisis. She died in 1971.  In an interview to Rediff, the late CM said that her mother had been a major influence on her. Jaya Kumar: Jayalalithaa’s brother, with whom she lived in Bangalore in her formative years. Relations between the siblings strained in the 90s following the death of Jayalalitha’s mentor MG Ramachandran. Jaya Kumar died in an accident in 1995, as per this report in The Indian Express. Deepa: Jaya Kumar’s daughter and Jayalalithaa’s niece. According to a report in The Times of India, she made numerous attempts top meet her aunt over the years, but was not allowed to do so. Back in 2014, following Jayalalithaa’s release from prison, Deepa and her husband tried to meet the AIADMK chief, but weren’t let in. Even when Jayalalithaa was ailing in hospital, she was all alone as Deepa was turned away by the police at the hospital. VN Sudhakaran: The nephew of Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala. Jayalalithaa once considered Sudhakran her foster son, but later disowned him. In September 1995, he was married off to Satyavati, the granddaughter of legendary Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan. He was convicted in the disproportionate assets case, in which Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were also implicated, and sentenced to four years in prison. Vasudevan: Jayalalithaa’s elder step-brother, who according to this report in Deccan Chronicle, was the son of Jayaram, who married Vasudevan’s mother Jayamma before marrying Jayalalithaa’s mother. Estranged from Jayalalithaa, Vasudevan currently lives in obscurity in a village in Mysuru district.