Orissa chief minister and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik has indicated that his party is ready to abstain from the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha in return for a similar gesture from the Congress in the Orissa assembly if he falls short of the majority mark.

Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, a friend of Patnaik from his Doon School days, is reported to have got such an assurance from him.

Patnaik has so far maintained that his party would support a non-BJP, non-Congress formation at the Centre.

According to the proposed formula, while the Congress could back the BJD to form a government in Orissa, it would get “passive support” from the regional party if the UPA stakes claim to form the government at the Centre. The support could mean abstention during the confidence vote, BJD sources said.

Though Orissa PCC chief KP Singh Deo denied the development, former Congress chief minister JB Patnaik said: “Anything is possible in politics.”

Confirming the shift in the BJD position, a senior leader said Patnaik was unlikely to switch to the NDA despite the BJP leadership’s efforts to woo him back. “The relationship with the BJP is too bitter to have any chance of revival. If we do badly in the Assembly election, we would look towards the Congress for support,” said the BJD leader.

BJD leaders said that the if the party managed to secure a majority with the help of pre-poll allies like NCP and the Left, then it would drive a hard bargain with the Congress which could include a “special status for Orissa”.

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