Launching a scathing attack on certain private media stations, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said media owners cannot run the country.

While addressing the weekly "Gama Samaga Pilisandarak' meeting, Rajapaksa said there are no "Maharajas" in Sri Lanka and they only functioned in India.

"If media owners try to make me dance to their tunes, I will teach them a lesson," the President said while adding that the media freedom did not amount to the freedom of media owners.

"I have dealt with them in the past. I will do the same in the future too," he added.

It is widely believed that the President's remarks were targetted at the "Maharaja Meda Network", which has severely criticised the government's actions in the recent past.