Expelled BJD leader Damodar Rout, along with Braja Kishore Tripathy of the Samata Kranti Dal, floated their new political party Biju Samata Kranti Dal here on Friday.

Talking to reporters, Rout said: “I have decided to fight against corruption and the misrule of the Naveen Patnaik government. After holding consultation with several people who are in public life, intellectuals and retired bureaucrats, we have floated the new party.”

Former Union minister Tripathy, who was present at the press conference, said: “The Samata Kranti Dal, which is already registered with the Election Commission, will be renamed as the Biju Samata Kranti Dal and a decision to this effect has been taken by the office-bearers of the party. Tripathy had left the BJD 2009 after he was denied a party ticket.

“The process will be complete after the approval of the party’s executive committee and general council and the subsequent consent of the Election Commission,” Tripathy said. The poll symbol of the party is a pair of scissors. Tripathy said that Rout was requested to take up the leadership of the new party. “However, he did not agree to hold any party post. He will be the chairman of the party’s campaign committee,” he said.

Rout claimed that some of the ardent supporters of Biju Patnaik, who had been sidelined by the BJD, were expected to join the party. However, he refused to divulge the names.

“Unless it is finalised, it will not be appropriate for me to divulge their names,” he said.

Rout claimed that former DGP Prakash Mishra and retired bureaucrat Prasanna Kumar Mishra “have agreed to join with us”.

Former DGP Mishra, however, denied that he was joining any party.

“I have no such intention,” he told The Telegraph. Retired bureaucrat Mishra could not be contacted for his comments.

The Congress and the BJP were cautious in their response to the new party.

BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty said: “He (Rout) was never with us ideologically.”

State Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik said: “At present we don’t have any proposal to have any alliance with smaller parties.”