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In this Tamil name, the name "Kuppusamy" is a patronymic and this person should be referred to by their given name, Annamalai.

For the AIADMK politician, see K. Annamalai.

Kuppusamy Annamalai is an Indian politician who has been serving as the Tamil Nadu state president for the Bharatiya Janata Party since 2021. .

Background
K. Annamalai was born in June 4, 1984, in the Karur district of Tamil Nadu. He is from the Kongu Vellalar community, which is listed as an Other Backward Class by the government of India.

He received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from PSG College of Technology in 2007, and a PGDM in Business from IIM, Lucknow.

Annamalai was a part of the 2011 Batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS), completing his officer training at in September of that year. He was appointed as an assistant superintendent of police in September of 2013. He spent the next six years serving various roles in different outposts in Karnataka, over which period he earned himself the nickname "Singham"  ("lion" in Tamil). He resigned from the police in September of 2019, citing the death of one of his senior officers as one of the reasons for his decision.

Political career
Annamalai joined the BJP on 25 August, 2020. In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, he unsuccessfully contested the Aravakurichi Assembly constituency for the BJP, losing to R. Elango of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

He was appointed as the Tamil Nadu state president for the BJP on 8 July, 2021, replacing L. Murugan. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest person to ever lead the BJP in the state at 37 years old.

In the 2024 Indian general election, Annamalai unsuccessfully contested the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency for the BJP against Ganapathi P. Rajkumar of the DMK, securing only 32.8% of the vote to Rajkumar's 41.4%.

Misleading statements controversy
On April 21, 2024, Annamalai alleged in a post on X that a woman from the Cuddalore district had been beaten to death by DMK members for her voting against the party in the elections. The next day, April 22, the Cuddalore district police booked Annamalai, charging him with making misleading statements, along with three other people for the same charge. The police alleged that the woman's murder was prompted by a longstanding feud between families, as opposed to it being politically motivated.

In response to this charge, Annamalai made another tweet on April 22 accusing the DMK government of fascism and filing a frivolous case, and showing a video of the husband and relatives of the woman confirming that the murder had occurred due to her voting for the BJP. However, interviews conducted by The New Indian Express of people close to the case concluded that the murder occurred due to a pre-existing family feud

Personal life
Annamalai currently lives in Coimbatore. He has a wife and two children.