Bhopal: Veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Sunday took light of the assertion by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan that he was still a force to reckon with in Madhya Pradesh, calling him a "toothless tiger".

Mr Chouhan has now been reduced to "toothless and clawless tiger", the AICC general secretary told reporters at Indore in Madhya Pradesh while reacting to the outgoing chief minister's veiled threat to his adversaries particularly the ruling Congress that he was not a spent force yet and he would stage a comeback sooner than expected.

"Tiger abhi zinda hai" (Tiger is still alive), Mr Chouhan had said while trying to reassure his loyalists of his return to power in the state.

"Tiger is considered an endangered species. We know how to conserve the species and we are accountable for conservation of the species too", Mr Singh quipped stopping short of saying his party knew how to tame a person howsoever powerful he or she may be.

He also ridiculed the predictions by Mr Chouhan that the Kamal Nath government in MP would not last full term and there would be a snap poll in the state in view of Congress having failed to muster majority in the recently held assembly elections.

Regretting alleged degeneration of state administration under the previous Shivraj Singh Chohan government, he said collectors and superintendents of police in the district had been engaged for raising funds and mobilising people for programmes of the chief minister then.

"The state administration needs to be reformed and strengthened now", he added. He also slammed the BJP leaders including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath Yogi for identifying Lord Hanuman with certain castes and religions, saying that the Sangh Parivar should take stringent action against them for their attempt to slight the deity in this way.