He was already declared a prime ministerial candidate by the then BJP president Lal Krishna Advani whose close association with Atal Bihari Vajpayee is no secret but there was one occasion in Pune where Vajpayee refused to share a stage with Advani. The occasion was Advani's birthday where Vajpayee refused to sit next to him and give his chair to Advani's wife Kamla Advani. 

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The year was 1995 when BJP's national executive committee meeting was scheduled in Pune's hotel Arora towers. However, it was Pune's famous Shreyas hotel which was Vajpayee's favourite place to stay. Party's national executive committee meeting in the year 1984 had also taken place in 'Shreyas' and though the venue had changed in 1995, Dattatreya Chitale, owner of 'Shreyas' insisted BJP leaders have at least one meal at his hotel.

"Vajpayee ji was always in love with our hotel's food and he readily accepted the invitation. The meeting was in the month of November and incidentally all the committee members agreed to come to our hotel on November 7 that is on the eve of Advani ji's birthday," Chitale told DNA. 

Since Advani's birthday was on November 8, Chitale decided to make some arrangements at his hotel to celebrate his birthday after the dinner on November 7. "As per the plan, Vajpayee ji was to felicitate Advani ji at 12 midnight at our hotel for which we set up a stage. The backdrop was decorated with flowers wishing Advani ji and we placed two chairs, one for Advani ji and another was for Vajpayee ji," Chitale said. 

After the dinner, Chitale said,  "All the members of the executive committee gathered near the stage and everyone was expecting Advani ji and Vajpayee ji to occupy the two chairs."

"Vajpayee ji, however, shocked all of us when he said he was not going to sit beside Advani ji. Seeing the puzzled look on everyone's face, Vajpayee ji quickly cleared the confusion when he said that the chair today belongs to Kamla ji, Advani's wife. He made sure that Kamla ji sat next to Advani ji and then only program began," Chitale remembered. 

At 12 midnight, Vajpayee not only felicitated Advani but he also delivered a speech in his honour. 

Chitale has many such memorable incidents of Vajpayee to share. "Till the time he became the prime minister in 1996, he would stay at our hotel whenever he visited Pune and his association with 'Shreyas' had started from the year 1980. He would always have simple Maharashtrian food during his stay in 'Shreyas' but one dish he loved a lot was the 'Kanda Pohe'," Chitale said. 

According to Chitale, Vajpayee would never miss eating Kanda Pohe during his Pune visit. Chitale said, "The first time after his first stint as a prime minister was over in 13 days, he was visiting Pune where being a former prime minister, he was giving Z security and his stay was at a five star hotel. However, knowing his love for Kanda Pohe, I parcelled few plates of pohe and went to that five-star hotel."

"While his security was not letting me in, I told him to pass on the message that Chitale had brought Pohe for him. The door of his room was half opened and his heard my voice and from inside his room only, he shouted at the security guard and asked him to let me in with Pohe," Chitale remembered.