(This story originally appeared in on Mar 24, 2019)

GAURIGANJ (Amethi): In the heart of Gauriganj, tables have been neatly set at the bustling Alok Dhaba as BJP karyakartas begin making notes on Smriti Irani ’s addresses and her stay in Amethi It’s Redux 2014: Congress president Rahul Gandhi versus BJP’s Smriti Irani, Union minister of textiles and former Union minister of I&B and HRD. Over many cups of tea, her team lists out 48 projects she undertook in the past five years.Barely 100 metres from the dhaba, masons are at work at Jamo Block of Madhopur village adding finishing touches to a double-storey house Krishna Mansion, recently given a fresh coat of white paint. The house will likely be where Irani pitches her camp during campaigning.“My brother Rakesh Gupta, mother and I are eager to host Smritiji here. Amethi will come to life again. Our house is being readied,” says house owner Jitendra.“There has been no candidate by any party who, despite defeat, has returned to Amethi. We will ensure Didi’s win just by seeing her commitment to fight again,” says Gyan Pratap Singh, owner of Alok Dhaba, a meeting point for BJP workers.Singh’s son Alok talks of how Irani would spend time meeting workers, block presidents, district office bearers and voters over “chilli paneer and missi roti”.While Congress alleges BJP halted UPA projects such as the food park, Irani’s supporters list out as her projects, a reservation counter at Amethi railway station, Uthretia to Varanasi rail electrification via Amethi, link road between Amethi and Rae Bareli to National Highway and a Sainik School “Didi even brought Krishi Vigyan Kendra and a Rs 3-crore soil testing lab besides rescuing families in Bareli with relief packages after a fire,” says Mahendra Pratap, a wheat farmer.