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On the occasion of her 63rd birthday, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa on Thursday urged her party workers to defeat the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the forthcoming assembly polls. The party also organised various welfare events such as blood-donation camps and mass-feeding programmes across Tamil Nadu to mark the day.
Jayalalithaa, a yesteryear actress who was politically baptised by former chief minister and party founder M G Ramachandran, had given a call to AIADMK cadres to take a vow to defeat DMK, instead of making her birthday a grand celebration.
Her party has been out of power since 2006 and it performed below expected levels in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Jayalalithaa, fondly called Amma by party workers, has invested a lot of effort in the assembly polls due in May, almost making it a do-or-die battle for AIADMK.
AIADMK stole a march over DMK in making early poll preparations, but is dogged by uncertainty over seat-sharing talks with allies like Communist Party of India - Marxist, Communist Party of India and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Actor-turned-politician Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, which may hold the key to the state polls, has reportedly sought a bigger share in seat allocation.
To celebrate Amma's birthday, AIADMK workers cut cakes at different places, organised mass-feeding and blood donation camps, and distributed dhotis and sarees to the poor. Jayalalithaa left for Mysore, her birth place, to visit the famous Chamundeeswari temple there.
The leader, extolled by party workers as 'Puratchi Thalaivi' (revolutionary leader), had said she found no reason to celebrate her birthday as the state was deteriorating in terms of development due to the 'all-round failure' of the DMK government.
She had told party workers that the time for celebrations would come soon, when the people pronounced their verdict in AIADMK's favour in the forthcoming polls.