With the JD(S)-Congress alliance set to come to power in Karnataka, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday asserted that such a government will be a “betrayal” of people’s mandate and questioned its fate, saying it is already “destabilised” with the two parties forced to keep their MLAs “locked in hotels” undemocratically.

Addressing a press conference, Shah also mocked the Congress for its celebration at the turn of events in Karnataka, saying it has found a new way of discovering win in its defeat and added that he prayed that it sticks to its definition of victory. The BJP then would have no problem in winning the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he said.

Describing the Congress-JD(S) alliance as “unholy”, he said the H D Deve Gowda’s party fought the election on an anti-Congress plank and benefited from people’s mood against the incumbent party in the state.

In the absence of a clear majority and when fresh polls is not an option, if they had not staked claim, it would be against the popular mandate, he said, claiming that people had made the BJP winner in this election.

The JD(S) lost deposits of its candidates in over 80 per cent of seats, he said. He also rejected charges of horse-trading, saying if that was the case, then the Yeddyurappa government would not have fallen and noted that even Congress leaders, including an MLA, have said that these were “forged” claims. It was done to influence the case in the Supreme Court, he said, and asked why no question was raised when the Congress sold the “entire stable”.

In a jibe at the Congress, he said one “good” outcome of the Karnataka verdict has been that the party’s respect for institutions like the Supreme Court and Election Commission besides Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has increased. “I hope the Congress finds them good when it loses the coming elections and it does not bring impeachment motion if it does not like a Supreme Court judgement,” he said.

Asked about the fate of the alliance government, he said people will certainly question their MLAs when they come out of hotels as their vote was against the Congress but added that he is not an astrologer who can predict its future. The BJP will play the role of a constructive opposition, he said, adding that it will respond to any changed political situation when it arises.

He also claimed that the Congress lawyer lied in the Supreme Court that Yeddyurappa had sought seven days time from the Governor to prove majority in the House. The BJP’s win in Karnataka showed that the “vijay rath” (victory march) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached south India and that people in the state voted for his good governance like the rest of the country, Shah stressed.