The Opposition-ruled states of Karnataka and Kerala are bringing their protest against the Centre’s alleged biased fiscal policies to the national capital, with Tamil Nadu lending its voice of support.

On Wednesday, the entire Karnataka ministry led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, plus all the state’s Congress MLAs and MLCs, will be staging a sit-in at Jantar Mantar, to be followed a day later by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministers. The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has said it will join the protests.

Siddaramaiah called his government’s ‘Chalo Delhi’ protest as the first-ever by Karnataka against the fiscal policies of the Centre. In front-page ads splashed across newspapers in Karnataka on Tuesday, the Congress government said the protest was against “the financial atrocities committed by the Central government on Kannadigas and Karnataka”. The Congress announced a simultaneous social media campaign, with the hashtag ‘My Tax My Right’.

The CM also penned letters to all MPs from the state, including Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Pralhad Joshi, and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, asking them to extend support to the state’s cause. Deputy CM D K Shivakumar said the protest was “a non-partisan struggle for the benefit of Kannadigas and Karnataka”.

In a briefing Monday, Siddaramaiah put the “losses” suffered by the state exchequer due to factors such as reduction of Karnataka’s share in the divisible pool of taxes and “faulty implementation of GST” at around Rs 1.87 lakh crore. The CM also claimed that despite the Union Budget’s size doubling between 2016-17 and 2022-23, there had been no marked increase in grants allocated to Karnataka.

The Kerala government has said its Thursday protest is meant to highlight “how the BJP-led government is neglecting the state by denying its due share of revenue in violation of principles of cooperative federalism”. Led by the CM and including his Cabinet colleagues, the protest will include all LDF MPs and MLAs.

Kerala has accused the Centre of “slashing the state’s borrowing limit”, an issue on which it has also moved the Supreme Court. Last month, the state Cabinet took out a month-long tour against the Union government’s “anti-people” policies.

According to the Kerala government, there has been a fall of Rs 57,400 crore in state’s receipts from the Centre, a shortfall of Rs 12,000 crore in GST compensation, another cut of Rs 8,400 crore in this year’s revenue deficit grant, and a fall in Kerala’s eligible borrowing limit to Rs 28,830 crore from the Rs 39,626 crore it expected.

CPI(M) leader and Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal Tuesday said: “In a country where federal principles exist, such agitation is very rare. The Cabinet is going to Delhi to find remedy for the neglect towards the state.”

He also questioned the Congress-led UDF for not joining the protest despite acknowledging the neglect towards the state, adding: “The agitation of the Congress-led Karnataka Cabinet in Delhi will be an eyeopener for the Congress in Kerala. It ratifies our stand that the Centre has adopted a discriminatory stand towards Opposition-ruled states.”

In a boost for the Pinarayi government, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, whose government includes the Congress, extended unequivocal support to the Kerala government’s protest on Tuesday.

In his statement, Stalin appreciated the Kerala decision to go to the Supreme Court against the Centre, and said the situation had rapidly deteriorated in the last few years, with a clear consensus emerging among state governments over such control over their finances.

Offering his full support to the Kerala government, and saying Tamil Nadu “looked forward to collaborate and synchronise our efforts to address this crucial challenge”, he called for collective action by all states. “The fundamental principle of fiscal federalism envisioned by the Constitution makers is under grave threat,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu government has accused the Centre of exploiting its powers under Article 293 of the Constitution to severely limit the borrowing capacity of states. “The prior consent from the Union government, mandated by this section, has been converted into a restrictive tool to limit deficit financing,” Stalin said.

He asked why the Centre had pegged the state’s Gross State Domestic Product growth for calculating net borrowing ceiling at a mere 8%, despite Tamil Nadu achieving approximately 15% nominal growth in recent years, and also questioned the imposition of conditions for funding the losses of state-owned electricity distribution companies.

He also raised “the deliberate delay” in approving infrastructure projects such as the Chennai Metro Rail Phase-II.

DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan told The Indian Express that the party and Tamil Nadu government were giving their support to Kerala as well as Karnataka. “We will be joining the protests in Delhi,” he said.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had strongly refuted claims that the Centre was withholding funds to non-BJP ruled states. The matter was raised by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress MP from West Bengal, whose government led by the TMC has staged several protests on the issue.

Sitharaman said the devolution of taxes was based on the recommendations of the Finance Commission, and she had no discretionary powers. “This apprehension that some states are being discriminated against is a politically-vitiated narrative.”

Earlier, the BJP had sought action against Congress Karnataka MP D K Suresh, for his comments after the interim budget was presented saying that the people of South India might have to demand “a separate country” given the “injustice” over their share in taxes.