File photo: Union ministers Kamal Nath (left), Sushil Kumar Shinde and AK Antony leave after a Cabinet meeting at the PM's office

In 1999, the Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha had plunged to 114, its lowest till then. Sonia Gandhi, who had become the Congress president less than a year earlier after replacing Sitaram Kesri, took up the challenge of reviving her party by agreeing to don the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.The Congress' strength in the Lok Sabha has now plummeted to 44, and it's unlikely that the Congress president would become Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House of Parliament again. Indications are that Union minister Kamal Nath, who won his ninth parliamentary election from Chhindwara in the Lok Sabha polls, would be asked to take over the role.Mr Nath is among the few Congress members who could withstand the Modi wave and save his turf. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, sources in the party said, is also not keen on taking over as Leader of the Opposition, which enjoys the ranking of a Cabinet minister.Mrs Gandhi will, the sources added, be elected once again as the chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party when it meets later this week. One of the first decisions she will have to take is to name the leader who would lead their party's charge in the Lok Sabha.

Unlike the previous occasion when Congress was the main Opposition party, it will have to contend with a stronger and charged-up BJP, which has won 282 seats on its own, and 334 seats with the help of its allies. It's for the first time in three decades that a party has been able to cross the half-way mark on its own.