The Congress party on Thursday distanced itself from the posters in Madhya Pradesh that alleged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ate beef prompting him to ask his partymen to counter the "vicious Congress propaganda".

"We have nothing to do with such a poster in Madhya Pradesh," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters when asked to clarify his party's view on the poster that said, "Cow is our mother. Atal Bihari ate it."

Taking exception to these posters, Vajpayee, while addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday, asked partymen to counter it.

Apparently facing a dilemma over the line to be adopted on the issue of the ban of cow slaughter, an issue raised by the BJP, Reddy struck a cautious path saying it was for the ruling BJP to decide on the matter.

"Why should we react to a proposal of the BJP on the issue. They are talking through the media. Our viewpoint is that why should the BJP, a ruling party, come to the Congress to discuss such a matter," Reddy said.

He also disputed suggestions that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has landed the party in a difficult situation ahead of the assembly election in the state by writing to the prime minister on the issue of the ban on cow slaughter.

The chief minister, he said, has merely forwarded a representation received by him on the issue to Vajpayee and has "not transgressed his limits".