Mukul Roy, 67, had left the TMC for the BJP in 2017, before returning to the Mamata Banerjee-led party after it emerged victorious with a thumping majority in the Bengal assembly polls in May this year.

The veteran politician's gaffe put the TMC leadership on the spot, and they hurried to provide a plausible explanation for Roy's remarks.

"Mukul Roy has lost his mental balance. He is not well. He doesn't know what he is talking about," TMC's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal told India Today.

TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee also dismissed Mukul Roy's statement as the ravings of an ailing man.

"Mukul Roy is ailing and that was probably the reason for his incoherent statements. He is not a functionary of our party. Let's not attach importance to what he says," Partha Chatterjee told a news agency.

This is not the first time Mukul Roy has made such a remark in public. He said the same during a press meet in September. Party and close family members say it was a slip-up as Roy is not in proper health and has been a little disoriented since the death of his wife due to Covid-19 earlier this year.

Roy barely makes public appearances these days and has been undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata. However, the nature of his illness is still unclear. Sources in Roy's family told India Today that his sodium and potassium levels have been fluctuating.

(With inputs from agencies)