Veteran TMC leader Tapas Roy on Monday said the day is not far when he might quit politics and retire from public life.
However, Roy, a staunch loyalist of party supremo Mamata Banerjee, didn't elaborate on his statement.
"Maybe in a few more years, I will quit as a political worker. It would be tough to stop me…when the time comes, I will inform the party that I want to quit politics," he said in a party programme.
A five-time MLA, Roy, who was baptised into politics as an activist of state Congress student wing Chhatra Parishad, rose through the ranks before joining the TMC ahead of the 2001 assembly polls.
When contacted, Roy told PTI that there should be a retirement age in politics as well.
"You can't carry on in politics for your entire life. I have been in politics for nearly 40 years. What I said is nothing new, I have said it before. I have already conveyed my views to the party in the past," the former state minister said.
Reacting to his statement, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the "party will speak to him".
Later in the evening, while addressing a programme on the occasion of Teachers' Day, Roy criticised the party's student unit over instances of educators being beaten up by students in various colleges in the last few years.
"I was a firebrand leader of Chhatra Parishad in my youth. Once my college principal slapped me as I declined to wear a blazer at a college function. Can you imagine such a situation these days? Will a professor be able to walk back home if he slaps a student union leader now?" he said.
"Actually, times have changed, and there has been a degeneration of both teachers and students. I feel sad about it," he added.