Stating that the police crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev was unfortunate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday told a group of editors that there was, nevertheless, no alternative.

Addressing five print editors during a media interaction here, the prime minister said the police crackdown at Delhi's Ramlila Ground on the yoga guru and his supporters June 4 post midnight was inevitable since there were fears that there could have been problems the next day.

"The prime minister said, 'we had no choice as we were afraid that next morning there could be problems as we had got reports that communal elements had infiltrated Ramdev Baba's camp'," Kumar Ketkar, editor of the Divya Marathi told reporters outside the Prime Minister's House 7, Race Course Road here.