Turns out, Nitish Kumar does remember the slip dated July 30, 1989 on which he had signed after writing " Nandlalji saat cup special chai" (Nandlalji, seven cups of special tea).

The chief minister called Nandlal's son Sanjay Kumar, who now runs the dhaba, to his bungalow on Wednesday - after The Telegraph reported how the dhaba on Beer Chand Patel Marg, which was set up in 1968 and where generations of political stalwarts have brainstormed over hot cups of tea, was facing demolition.

(The Telegraph report on Tuesday incorrectly said the dhaba was set up in 1986; we deeply regret the error)

On Wednesday morning, Sanjay got a call from Nitish's close aide Harendra who asked him to visit 1 Aney Marg at 4 pm.

"I am really thankful to chief minister Nitish Kumar who did not delay and saved my only means of livelihood. I never thought I my dreams that the response would be so quick; I have been running from pillar to post to save my dhaba," Sanjay told The Telegraph after coming out of 1 Aney Marg.

Sanjay, however, could not meet his father's old customer; Nitish was busy in a meeting with his party's district in-charges.

But Sanjay's problems were taken care of. The chief minister's principal secretary, Chanchal Kumar, met Sanjay and assured him that he can run his dhaba until the CM secretariat identifies a permanent place for it.

"Chanchal ji spoke to me very nicely and assured me that I will not lose my livelihood until a permanent place is offered to me. He also told me that I can continue with my dhaba and will not face any problem from the building construction department," Sanjay said.

Earlier this week, an engineer from the building construction department had ordered Sanjay to vacate the dhaba within two days because it is on government land where new MLAs' bungalows will come up.

Sanjay was in Chanchal's chamber for around 20 minutes and was offered tea. Sanjay - who had gone there with Chotan Babu, a veteran socialist leader - said Chanchal called a senior official of the building construction department and issued instructions that Nandlal's Dhaba should not be razed for now.

"I am happy that Nitish ji understood my problem and has allowed me to continue," Sanjay said. "I am also happy that my father served Nitishji for a long time and he remembered and reciprocated by doing this favour to me."

Apart from Nitish, prominent leaders Nandlal's Dhaba has hosted over the years include Lalu Prasad, Shivanand Tiwari, and the late Karpoori Thakur who had also visited the dhaba when he was chief minister.