L K Advani once told rediff.com that Vajpayee remonstrated with him in 1995 after he told the BJP convention in Mumbai that Vajpayee would be the party's candidate for prime minister in the 1996 general election.
"Aap ne mujhse poocha bhi nahin (You didn't even ask me)!" Vajpayee exclaimed.
"Kya aap maante agar hum ne aap se poocha hota (Would you have agreed if I had asked you)?" Advani replied.
Though rumours swirl about their crumbling relationship, the Advani-Vajpayee combo has endured, perhaps only natural in a relationship that goes back half a century. As Vajpayee told Goel he never forgets the day his party was handed a humiliating defeat in an election, after which Advani and he went to see a Hindi movie!