CHENNAI: BJP state vice president M Chakravarthy on Saturday claimed that the party's state president K Annamalai has helped the party increase its vote share from five per cent to 18 per cent through his hard work in a short span of two years.

In a statement, he said that the saffron party has finished runner-up in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and the vote share of the NDA has risen to 18.28 per cent.

"Our next focus is the 2026 Assembly elections and we should concentrate on making BJP victorious. Let's leave the discussions about party coalitions, Constituency sharing etc to the Central leadership and instead, we will work with the people of Tamil Nadu in making BJP a stronger winning force" Chakravarthy said.

He has urged his party colleagues to keep their differences and opinions aside and to strengthen the hands of Annamalai who is under fire for the party's poor show in the state.