AMARAVATI: Upset over “injustice” to Andhra Pradesh in Union Budget 2018-19, the TDP, a key ally of the BJP, on Sunday decided to raise the issue in Parliament.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N. Chandrababu Naidu asked his party MPs to pressurise the BJP-led NDA government to undo the injustice.

At the TDP Parliamentary Board meeting here, Naidu said the party would begin its fight by raising the issue in Parliament, sources revealed. He made it clear that this was only the first step.

The TDP chief said the party’s next course of action would depend on the response of the Modi government.

The Board discussed in detail the Union Budget and the Centre’s failure to address the pending issues of the state.

Some TDP leaders suggested that both the central ministers of the TDP should quit to put pressure on the BJP. Naidu, however, said the party should first raise the issue in Parliament.

TDP leader and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y. Sujana Chowdhary told reporters that for the TDP the state’s interests were more important than the alliance with the BJP.

He said the MPs would try to put pressure on the Centre to honour all commitments made to the state at the time of its bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh in 2014.

The TDP leader said the Centre should immediately address the key issues including the release of funds under the special assistance measure announced last year, funds for the Polavaram project, assistance to build new state capital Amaravati and setting up of a railway zone in Visakhapatnam.

Naidu had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a list of demands ahead of Parliament’s budget session.

The TDP chief has been demanding that New Delhi help it out till the state overcame its revenue deficit and developed at par with the other neighbouring states.

Chowdary said several issues pertaining to the state were pending with the Centre. “We shall try first to talk to the central government to see that they are resolved. If there is still no response from the Centre, our party president will take an appropriate decision (on continuing in the NDA). Till then, we shall wait and watch,” Chowdary said.

The BJP’s biggest southern ally is upset over “being ignored” in the Union Budget that was presented on Feb.1. The meeting was called to decide if the TDP, the NDA’s third largest constituent with 16 members in the Lok Sabha, should continue in the ruling coalition.

“The people of the state are seething with anger with the injustice done to the state in the central budget. We need to reflect the same in Parliament,” one of the MPs, who attended the meeting, quoted Naidu as saying.

Naidu is also learnt to have told party members to stage protests in Parliament, even if it led to their suspension, the MP said.

The chief minister would explore all options for getting what was legitimately due to the state as per the AP Reorganisation Act, Chowdary, who is the minister of state for science and technology in the Modi government, said after the three-hour meeting.

There was nothing was more important to the TDP than the interests of the state, he said. The party had been telling the Centre that the state had suffered due to unscientific bifurcation of the Andhra Pradesh.

“We expected that at least in the current budget, which is the last full-fledged budget before the next elections, justice would be done to the state. Unfortunately, there was no mention of several issues,” Chowdary said.