As a union minister, Joshi held key portfolios like Road Transport and Highways, and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the Second Manmohan Singh ministry.

He lost Nathdwara constituency against Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, a great descendant of Maharana Pratap family for Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.

Before entering full time politics, Joshi was a Professor of Psychology at Udaipur's Mohanlal Sukhadia University, with a specialisation in Intelligence Quotient.

Mohan Lal Sukhadia, founder of modern Mewar, recognised Joshi's social commitments and encouraged him to actively participate in politics.

In 1998, he became the Cabinet Minister for Rajasthan handling key portfolios like Education, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Public Health Engineering, Policy Planning, and Information Technology.

He gave a new direction to the significant departments of Abhiyantrik Yojna, Panchayati Raj and Education and made his distinguished presence in these fields.

He brought the state unit together to win the 2008 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election only to lose his own seat by one vote, to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Kalyan Singh Chauhan.

[5] He resigned from the Cabinet on 16 June 2013 after serving for more than four years to take the charge of General Secretary in All India Congress Committee (AICC).