Rahul Gandhi sitting next to Sonia Gandhi during the budget session
Rahul Gandhi may have led from the front in Parliament today but he will settle for the second row in the Lok Sabha.
Mr Gandhi has been allotted a spot with seasoned parliamentarians Kamal Nath and Veerappa Moily, who will also sit in the second row.
The 44-year-old Congress number 2, will sit one row behind his mother Sonia Gandhi, who has one of the only two front row seats allotted to the Congress. Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, will sit next to her.
Mr Gandhi briefly sat in the front row when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented his budget last month.
The Congress' diminished numbers mean that it has got only two seats in the front row instead of the four it wanted.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, one of the party's most articulate speakers, has been given a place in the third row.
The Congress will have to share benches with the Left and smaller parties like the Aam Aadmi Party.
The Speaker faced a problem with at least five parties reportedly refusing to sit next to the Congress, which was reduced to just 44 members, its lowest tally ever, in the national election.
The AIADMK, Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the YSR Congress reportedly said they are equidistant from the BJP and the Congress and that must reflect in the seating.
Jayalalithaa's AIADMK with 37 MPs, the Trinamool Congress with 34 and the BJD are the largest teams in the house after the Congress.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has managed a front row seat even though he has just four members in the house. An exception was apparently made on account of his seniority and years in Parliament.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) also has a place in the front row.
With the election marking a complete reversal of fortunes, the newly-elected Lok Sabha looks vastly different from three months ago.
The BJP-led coalition, which has 330-plus seats in the Lok Sabha, has been allotted 12 seats in the front row.
These will be occupied, among others, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his top ministers, and BJP veteran LK Advani.