Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad might have a reputation of being incisive, but he is not immune to the occasional gaffe.

When announcing the details of Bersatu's second national delegates meeting today, Mahathir mistakenly referred to his former party instead.

"Tonight we have conducted the Bersatu supreme council meeting where he discussed in detail issues concerning the party.

"Firstly, I want to announce that we have decided that the second Umno annual meeting...," said Mahathir, prompting the bemusement of reporters and quick intervention of Bersatu leaders.

Mahathir then said in jest "did I say Umno?" before laughing and continuing with his announcement, during the press conference late last night at the party headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

He again referred to this slip of the tongue later when speaking about ways to improve Bersatu's recruitment drive.

"Secondly, we also had a lengthy discussion on improving the party's membership system.

"We found that there are many issues regarding membership and we will improve the system so that anybody can easily join Bersatu... not Umno," he said while giggling.

By design or otherwise, Mahathir had mixed up Bersatu with either Umno or BN before. He had led Umno and BN for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. His portrait can still be seen in several parts of Umno's headquarters.

Bersatu's AGM will take place between Dec 28 and 30. In contrast, the AGM last year was a one-day affair.