Arvind Kejriwal wins hands down, not Aam Aadmi Party: TNS India survey

NEW DELHI: "He's what you expect someone to be. He's Mr Clean and Mr Clean-up. But behind him there is no strong party," says political analyst Shiv Vishwanathan. The angry everyman, and rank outsider till just a year ago, is the most popular choice for chief minister in Delhi, ahead of the BJP's Harsh Vardhan by a margin of 14 percentage points, as per the TNS India survey. But his personal standing hasn't lifted AAP's prospects, leaving it trailing BJP in popularity. How does Kejriwal still capture the imagination of Delhi's voters despite all the setbacks AAP has suffered in the last one year?

"Firstly, he's the (last) chief minister. A fair evaluation of his 49-day stint shows that many people have positive things to say about it," said Sanjay Kumar, director at CSDS. "That apart, BJP and Congress have not been able to project anyone as the CM candidate and that gives him an edge.” For political commentator Neerja Chowdhury, Kejriwal is the beneficiary of a trend. "People are looking for a strong leader — it's what I call the Modi Syndrome. People see a strong decisive leader in Kejriwal. His evolution from a politician to a "decisive leader" is the most interesting part of the journey. A large part of the credit also goes to the young minds behind AAP’s innovative online and offline campaigns. But a lot has changed since then.

"Arvind has been unfairly criticised for being autocratic and running away from responsibility. We had to turn that criticism on its head and so we created the Mufflerman," said a member of AAP social media team. “AAP has successfully projected an individual. If you are talking of a collective line of leadership, AAP has to work much harder," Vishwanathan said. "If you were to compare individual to individual, Kejriwal wins. But if you were to compare collectivity to collectivity, BJP would win," he added. Is the Mufflerman listening?