Arjun Singh, the BJP candidate for Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, on Friday visited Trinamool Congress veteran Mukul Roy and sought his blessings for the polls.

Roy, who is suffering from dementia and Parkinson's disease, has been inactive in politics and does not hold any portfolio or play any active role in the party at present.

Singh, who recently quit the TMC and returned to the BJP, which he had joined before the 2019 polls after leaving the ruling party in the state, said he respects Roy and hence, sought his blessings for the elections.

Roy, who had also joined the BJP before returning to the TMC, had worked together with Singh as political workers.

Singh said Roy recognised him and wished him luck, while he wished a long life for the TMC veteran.

"I sought his blessings for the polls," Singh said.

Roy had served as the railway minister and Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry in the second UPA government, of which the Trinamool Congress was a part.

He quit the TMC in 2017 due to disagreements with the party leadership and joined the BJP, before returning to the ruling party in the state in 2021.

Singh had also recently visited former CPI(M) MP of Barrackpore, Tarit Baran Topdar, at his residence and acknowledged his contributions to the development of Barrackpore.

TMC candidate for the seat, Partha Bhowmick, had also called on Topdar, who was an influential politician in the jute industrial belt.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.