Our priority is country's security, not alliance: Rajnath Singh

Reiterates that he is not satisfied with the state govt's version

Amid the raging controversy over release of a Kashmiri separatist leader, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asserted that his government's priority was national security and not the continuance of its alliance with the PDP. 

His remarks come a day after the Prime Minister made it clear in Parliament that release of separatist leader Masarat Alam was not acceptable and that the government won't tolerate any compromise with the nation's integrity.

"My government will not compromise with national security at any cost.  I will only make only one statement as of now. For us, government is not the priority but the country is priority and it is topmost," he said.

"You should understand this fact and I think everything is encapsulated in this statement," Singh said on the sidelines of the 46th Raising Day of central security force CISF here.

Singh maintained that he was not satisfied with the official version that the state government sent to his Ministry earlier on this subject.

"I will not say anything now. As I said in Parliament yesterday, I am not fully satisfied with the version of Jammu and Kashmir government on this issue. I have sought some information...Clarifications on the issue from the state government and only after getting something from there, I will comment," he told reporters here.

He also dismissed reports that Mufti had talked to him on the subject.

"I have not talked to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) in the last about three years or so... Not before oath or after that," he said.

Members in both Lok Sabha and Rajya have expressed "outrage" over the release of the separatist leader, calling the development as "anti-national" and dangerous to the country's integrity. They have also dared BJP to pull out of the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led government on the issue.