The BJP office stands decorated and deserted with a banner showing its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani standing the foreground on May 16, 2009. (AP photo)
The deserted BJP office on Saturday provided the sights and sounds of a loss. The party will debate its worst showing since 1991 for months.
But L K Advani has already said he's had enough and wants to quit as Leader of the Opposition. The BJP is still trying to dissuade him, but is he planning to retire from politics altogether?
The senior BJP leader had sometime back told NDTV: "I certainly feel that a person should call it a day when he's hail and healthy."
For the record, the party still wants him.
Says Venkaiah Naidu: "Advani insisted he wants to quit as Leader of Opposition. We are still trying to persuade him."
BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley says Advani will continue to guide the party.
But not all issues will be as amicably resolved. Some say abandoning Hindutva was a mistake. Others blame five years of confusion on identifying a winning issue.
Most agree Atal Bihari Vajpayee's absence has hurt the party. Says BJP president Rajnath Singh: "In the earlier campaigns Atalji used to be present and the campaign used to be effective. This time he was not there with us."
The focus is now on the BJP's second rung. Will the war over succession begin?
Some sections may push for Narendra Modi's elevation and a walk back to Hindutva. But this may threaten the NDA.
It seems the BJP's real troubles have just begun. The party can now discuss at leisure the reason it lost or why Advani could not be PM. But the real question that confronts it is - which way to go - as the Atal Advani era seems to be coming to an end.