Joshi leaves, setback to polls

When she did not turn up for the meeting, the State Congress Chief M Satyanarayana Rao contacted the AICC Election Authority Chairman Ramnivas Mirdha in New Delhi and briefed him about the development.

Mirdha authorised the senior member of PEA DharampalSingh to oversee and complete the election process without any break, Rao said.

Asked about Joshi’s whereabouts, he said he was not aware of it but asserted that the poll process would not be allowed to be affected.

Joshi has since checked out of the Greenlands Guest House in the city, where she was staying since yesterday, and left for an undisclosed destination.

The development comes in the wake of growing rift between Joshi and state Congress leaders over the conduct of organisational elections.

Satyanarayana Rao had yesterday accused her of “ignoring and sidelining” the state unit in the appointment of DROs and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) and conducting the polls in a “partisan manner”.