After losing his initial Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow, the late prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee did not contest from here until 1991. But he kept visiting Lucknow and maintained his rapport with Lucknowites. When he contested from here in 1991, he said, “What do you think, would you get rid of me? But that won’t happen, Lucknow is my home so I am back again here and this time you have to make me an MP from here.” And he won that election.
In his entire political career, Lucknow made his way to Lok Sabha five times. Lucknow had a special place in his life. Senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon, Lucknow former mayor Dauji Gupta, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma—all have lots of stories to share about Vajpayee.
Not only this, his association with Lucknow can be gauged by the fact that despite not living here, his name was in the voter’s list for long. He used to stay at a government flat in Lucknow's La Place Road.
His political abode in Lucknow was at ‘Marwari Gali’ Aminabad’s ‘Kalantri Niwas’. During his initial years in 1960s and 1970s, he often visited Lucknow to discuss political stragey with the leaders there.
What connected Vajpayee and Lucknow more deeply is his penchant for Lucknowi food. Chowk’s famous ‘Thandi’ of Raja, ‘Dodhiya Burfi’ of Raja Bajar, 'makhan' (butter) of Babu Lal and ‘Balu shahi’—all these were his favourites. Not only this, he had a great penchant for Lucknowi chaat so much so that when he was an MP, he would stop at any chaat shop to relish the items.
After becoming the prime minister, his movements got curtailed considerably, but his fondness for Lucknowi food did not die. Often, acquiantances visiting Delhi from Lucknow would carry his favourite items.
A BJP leader from Chowk, Anurag Mishra, says that after becoming the prime minister in 1996, he had invited 65 people from Lucknow to Delhi and who had supported his poll campaign and had dinner with them.