Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has, from all accounts, gone into a shell. While politicians usually take defeat in their stride, living to fight another day, Rahul has taken to heart the worse-than-expected defeat at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) two-man demolition machine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. After a brief holiday abroad – no big deal, given the hard work he put in during the elongated parliamentary election schedule – he's returned and stuck to his decision to resign. He refuses to sign official correspondence and refuses to be drawn into the party's future; in short, he's washed his hands of the party.

There has briefly been talk of reuniting the Congress party to boost its morale and fortunes. The provocation for this was the assembly election in Maharashtra due in October.