Will take control of media in six months: Annamalai

Stoking a row, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has said, “we will take control of the media” in six months to “put an end to fake news” as no media outlet can keep “spreading lies” for long.

Annamalai, who will formally assume charge as President of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit on Friday, made the controversial remarks while addressing a roadshow.

“Forgot about the media which is writing false news about us. Just forget about them. We can take control of the media in the next six months. We can take them into our hands. The reason is no media can continue to spread false news for a long time,” Annamalai said.

He went on to remind the cadres that former TN BJP chief L Murugan is now the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting under whom “all media will come.”

“They cannot keep doing the same mistake. They cannot keep spreading wrong news. You cannot keep doing politics with false news for long,” Annamalai said.

This is not the first time that Annamalai has stoked a row – during the election campaign in Aravakurichi in Karur district, he had threatened Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji.

Annamalai’s comments triggered a political slugfest with DMK calling it an “open threat to media.” “This is nothing but intimidating the media and giving an open threat. We condemn Annamalai’s statement,” Information Technology minister Mano Thangaraj told reporters.

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