India, April 1 -- BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday offered an unconditional apology for his claim that former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik was the link between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the CIA during the war against China in the 1960s.

Dubey's controversial remarks on Biju Patnaik on March 27 had led to political tensions in the state, with the opposition, especially the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), protesting against the remark.

The BJP leader, an MP from the Godda seat in Jharkhand, said the comments made about Nehru were "mistakenly understood as being about Biju Babu."

"While speaking to the media last week, my remarks-made in the context of the actions of the Nehru-Gandhi family-were misinterpreted in referenc...