general secretary Janardan Dwivedi. Asked if Gandhi would ask Joshi to step down, he said: “In any political organisation, decisions are taken only after considering all aspects of the problem, and not in a hurry. She is in jail right now. Any decision will be taken only hearing her version and explanation. The same thing could have been said without using those words.”

Party sources, however, said that the leadership was unlikely to take any action against her.

Digvijay Singh, AICC general secretary in charge of UP, said that while the party disowned Joshi’s remarks, there remained the issue of action against those who had ransacked Joshi’s house and set it on fire. The Congress has launched a complaint against BSP MLA Jitendra Singh alias Babloo and other BSP workers in connection with this incident.

Earlier in Lucknow, Mayawati questioned Gandhi’s “silence” over Joshi’s remarks. “The most painful thing is that Sonia Gandhi has remained silent on the issue. She has neither condemned this humiliating, uncivilised and derogatory statement nor has she taken any action against her at the party level. This clearly shows that the humiliating statement by Joshi was made at the instance of Congress High Command,” she told a press conference, adding that the comments were “not at all pardonable”.

Claiming that BSP men were not involved in the attack on Joshi’s house, Mayawati said, “there is a doubt of the hand of Congress itself in the incident”. The government, she said, had ordered an impartial inquiry into the incident.

... contd.