Delhi and Punjab chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann on Thursday joined the protest led by their Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan against the Centre’s treatment of the states on financial matters, undeterred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid to portray the southern states’ fight to protect “fiscal federalism” as a divisive move.

The Congress stayed away from Thursday’s protest in deference to the sentiments of the party’s state unit, which is in direct contest with the CPM-led LDF in Kerala. But its Karnataka chief minister, Siddaramaiah, led a similar agitation in Delhi on Wednesday, signalling unity among all the INDIA partners on the issue.

Trinamul, which has kept its distance from the bloc since Mamata Banerjee announced her party would fight the Lok Sabha polls in Bengal alone, too weighed in with a post on X. It accused the Modi government of engaging in “fiscal federal terrorism” while Bengal awaited its “rightful dues” from the Centre.

The Tamil Nadu government lent its whole-hearted support to the agitation though chief minister M.K. Stalin could not make it to the protest, having just returned from an overseas visit.

He sent minister P. Thiaga Rajan to participate in the protest, posted a hard-hitting message on X, and had DMK parliamentarians protest in the Parliament complex, dressed in black, against the “financial injustice” to the state.

Threading the three protests — Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and the “black shirt demonstration” in Parliament — Stalin said: “All the states are compelled to protest against the common grievance of inequitable distribution of funds.”

He accused Modi of treating the states like “mere municipalities” and showing a “marked disdain” for chief ministers though he himself had been one.

“After he became Prime Minister, he eroded the financial autonomy of states, withdrew educational rights of states, diminished our language rights, and deprived states of their legal rights. The financial disempowerment of states is akin to depriving them of vital oxygen,” Stalin said.

Several INDIA bloc leaders attended the protest meeting, among them former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary D. Raja.

Addressing the meeting, Vijayan said this was the beginning of a fight to ensure equal treatment of the states and a balance in Centre-state relations.

The common grievances that many non-NDA states have against the Modi government relate to delays in the payment of GST compensation, restrictions on borrowing for development projects, the change to the formula for devolving tax revenues, and a general sentiment that the southern states are paying a price for meeting human development goals and controlling their populations.

Kejriwal said it was unfortunate that chief ministers had to come and protest in Delhi in this manner.

“To get our funds, we have to sit at Jantar Mantar. Against the collection of Rs 2 lakh crore in income taxes every year… we get only Rs 325 crore from Delhi in a year. Even the British would not have looted us as much as these people are looting us,” he said.