Annamalai completed his officer training at LBSNA Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, in September 2011. From December 2011 to September 2013, he served as an officer trainee at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. In September 2013, he was appointed as the assistant superintendent of police of Karkala, Karnataka and held this position until December 2014. He was then appointed as the superintendent of police of Udupi in January 2015 and remained in this role until August 2016. He was then transferred to Chikmagalur, Karnataka, where he was appointed as the superintendent of police. He served in the Chikmagalur district of Karnataka until October 2018. Subsequently, from October 2018 to September 2019, he served as the deputy commissioner of police of South Bangalore.
Controversies
In 2019, several political leaders of DMK started blaming Annamalai soon after he announced joining BJP. They blamed him for taking the benefits of the political powers of the BJP government during his term as an IPS officer. Soon, he replied to these condemns through one of his social media accounts in which he stated that he was appointed as an IPS officer when the country was led by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Political journey
Relocated to his village in Karur district of Tamil Nadu to take up organic farming after his resignation, Annamalai was groomed to be the CM candidate of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s party, which couldn't. Subsequently, on August 25, 2020, he joined BJP. He was made state unit chief within 10 months of joining the party.
In the following year, he contested the Tamil Nadu state assembly election from the Aravakurichi constituency of Karur district backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and was defeated by NR Elango, a leader of DMK.
As the youngest president of the Tamil Nadu unit, the 39-year-old leader has taken the BJP flag and symbol to all 234 assembly constituencies in the state through his ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ yatra.
Coimbatore constituency went to polling in Phase 1 on April 19. Ganapathi Raj Kumar of DMK and Singai G Ramachandran of AIADMK are among the 37 candidates contesting from Coimbatore seat. The results will be announced on June 4.
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