K Annamalai, the BJP Tamil Nadu's new president, has promised to "take control" of the media.

In a video clip uploaded by Times Now, K Annamalai told his supporters, "Forget about the media, forget about thinking [about] what to do when they tell lies about us. Within six months, you will see we can control the media and take it in our hands. You don't have to worry...no outlet can keep telling lies in a sustained manner."

And how will this happen? Because, Annamalai said, former BJP state president L Murugan is now "the ministry's minister": during the cabinet expansion last week, Murugan joined the union cabinet as a minister of state in the ministries of information and broadcasting, animal husbandry, and fisheries.

"Former chief Murugan ayya is now minister in the information and broadcasting ministry," he said. "All the media will come under him...False news cannot keep being told and you cannot do politics with such false news."

Annamalai is a former IPS officer who quit the services to join politics. He contested in the Tamil Nadu assembly election for the BJP from Aravakurichi but lost.