NEW DELHI: The BJP’s move to use the Dadri incident to launch a campaign against beef eating and make a pre-poll promise to ban cow slaughter in Bihar made the Congress on Monday labour hard to remind people that it was mostly Congress governments that had banned cow slaughter in about 24 states, including Bihar, way back in 1955 when the BJP was not even formed.Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said his party was open to a discussion on bringing a national law against cow slaughter. He said he would soon meet party president Sonia Gandhi and V-P Rahul Gandhi to discuss the issue.Congress leaders, including Singh, also tried to do a balancing act by saying that eating habits are individual choices as long as they follow the law of the land. Singh and other Congress leaders charged the BJP with playing politics over emotive issues and asked why PM Modi was still silent on the Dadri issue.“It was Congress which formulated laws against cow slaughter in states... The BJP should understand this,” Singh said, while recalling how his erstwhile MP government had taken steps to ensure cow protection.Another Congress spokesman Raj Babar said the issue of banning cow slaughter is a state subject. To a question on RJD chief Lalu Prasad saying Hindus too eat beef, Singh said, “Lalu Yadav is not supporting cow slaughter. How can any Yadav be against cows?”Spokesman Pramod Tiwari said it was not the Congress’ habit to interfere with the eating habits of individuals as long as they did not violate any laws.