Who do you think will win?" Anupam Kher asked Vaibhavi Nanavati, Devang's wife. "May the best man win," she said. But, as it turned out, the best man on the Lead India stage was R K Misra.

Former president APJ Abdul Kalam announced the man from Bangalore as the winner of Lead India 's grand finale held (see video) at Noida's Film City on Saturday. Misra was on a strong wicket throughout the show, with all but one of the judges giving him their vote.

Among the special judges for the mega final were RTI activist and Magasaysay award winner Arvind Kejriwal, India's solicitor-general Goolam Vahanvati, senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh and BJP spokesperson and former I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

They were joined by permanent jury members Kiran Bedi, Javed Akhtar and TOI senior editor Vikas Singh. " Lead India is an inspirational mode of identifying leadership," said Bedi.

Joining the jury were special guests Amar Singh, Arun Jaitley and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who participated in a panel discussion on 'why the youth doesn't get into politics.' Amar Singh said his party would give a ticket to the finalists if they fit the profile of an ideal Samajwadi Party candidate.

"Politicians are made of luck, opportunity and utility," he explained. Jaitley said he wouldn't give the politically correct answer by offering the finalists an easy ticket to politics. "We started out in our 20s and sacrificed a lot to get here. With the right ideals and ideology, the finalists will surely do well."

Singhvi agreed. "Politics is not a charitable institute. If any of these candidates prove beneficial for the party, we will surely give them a chance to be part of our system."

But before all that, host Anupam Kher called the six finalists, who had been voted out. As Soumya Mishra, Ujjwal Banerjee, Ranjit Gadgil, Dipayan Dey, Abha Singh and Sanjiv Kaura took centrestage, the studio erupted into applause, reaffirming they all were leaders in their own right. "Nobody can stop an idea whose time has come. And Lead India is the idea for today," said Javed Akhtar.

"We are humbled by the response to Lead India. This is our way of providing a platform to the youth of India who want to enter politics," said Times Group managing director Vineet Jain.

Nanavati and Misra made for the perfect finalists as they complimented each other in the last round. "Devang argues his case well. I must learn that from him," said Misra.

"RK is a doer, not a talker," conceded Nanavati. Both finalists' families were also in the audience. In a moment right out of the movies, when Misra's father said, "Both boys are my sons. My blessings are with both of them."

As part of the final round of this show produced by Miditech, both Misra and Nanavati were asked to make a case in one minute.

Misra explained his public private partnership model, while Nanavati said how joining active politics was not the only way to ensure good governance. The duo also presented their dream projects – Misra's is to start a dairy farm in his village Sonari in UP, while Nanavati plans to start a centre for leadership and social governance in Ahmedabad.

The jury cast their vote, the audience polled in their choice, the SMS count rose steadily. In the end, Misra was the man of the hour.

As A P J Abdul Kalam presented him with a certificate and a cheque for Rs 50 lakh, the Bangalore finalist repeated rival Nanavati's words: "This is not the end of Lead India. The actual journey has just begun."

Source:TOI