The people of Andhra Pradesh are “wounded” and if they are not given justice, “it will be painful”, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday, NDTV reported.

Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, the BJP’s only ally in the south, has been at odds with the Centre since February 1, alleging that the Union Budget did not allocate enough to Andhra Pradesh. On February 12, the party called the Centre’s 27-page status report on aid given to the state a “cinema script or fiction document”.

All through the first half of Parliament’s Budget Session, TDP leaders also protested inside the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha over the issue. The party’s main demand is that the Centre grants the state the Special Category status, which will bring in large amounts of central funds as aid.

On Saturday, Naidu told NDTV at a summit organised by The Hindu in Bengaluru that he “came to Delhi 29 times” to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers, but the centre’s promises for financial support for the state have still not been met.

Referring to how the Congress lost power as the people were angry with its decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, Naidu said the people “punished the party that has done injustice for them, in a democratic way”.

“So what I am asking today, Government of India, is if you won’t do justice, the already wounded soldiers (of Andhra Pradesh), if you touch them, it will be very painful. When there is a wound, if you touch them also, it will be more pain,” he said.

While Naidu did not directly answer a question about parting ways with the National Democratic Alliance, he pointed to his party colleague in the audience, Union Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and said, “He is still in the cabinet.”

He said the state was only demanding “what should be given to us”, The Hindu reported. “Ours is an agrarian State, without a big urban centre, and we fall short by Rs 30,000 to the average per capita income in the rest of the country.”