VK Singh (top), AK Antony

New Delhi, Feb. 13: Starting Valentine’s week, defence minister A.K. Antony today urged an “atmosphere of reconciliation” with army chief General V.K. Singh to bury the bruising row over his age.

Both Antony and the army chief today left for tours overseas, the minister to Saudi Arabia and the general to the UK.

Speaking for the first time since the army chief withdrew his petition after the Supreme Court said it would pass no order on it, Antony said: “I am very happy this controversy is over.”

He asked that the “unfortunate controversy” be treated as a thing of the past even by the media so that all could “work together to strengthen national security”.

Antony was speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural of the Asian Security Conference at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis before leaving for Riyadh.

“In the interest of national security, please forget about this issue. Let us bury it. Let’s work together to bury it now. Let us create an atmosphere of reconciliation. Let us cool down tempers,” he said in remarks that were also a comment on the differences within the security establishment since General Singh went to court against the government that appointed him.

Antony said: “The government has full faith in the present chief, as we stated before the Supreme Court.”

The army chief had asked for a reconciliation of records to show that he was born on May 10, 1951, and not May 10, 1950. He was the first army chief to petition the defence minister and then file a statutory complaint to him.

Antony repeated, when asked if the army chief had offered to resign because his contention had been rejected, that “the government has full faith” in the General.

General Singh is scheduled to retire on May 31 this year since his contention was turned down. Otherwise he may have been eligible for a further 10 months in office. The army chief serves for three years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier.