There are other similarities between the two. Both have small business as their background. Though Pandya was a full-fledged party worker before he became an MLA, he once owned a small unit manufacturing fire-fighting clothes/sheets; Verma owned a small timber business.

Their pedigree is good, though again different. Verma is almost a legend in Gujarat, winning his fourth Lok Sabha election in a row earlier this year. Pandya, on the other hand, acquired `giant-killer' status when he trounced then Chief Minister Dilip Parikh in his first-ever Assembly elections.

"I know people sort of laugh when they learn about my distinctive features or see me. But what can I do, I am such", Verma says in his extraordinarily husky and heavy voice. "We also have several other common things", Pandya chips in with his modest-to-a-fault, smooth-as-silk voice, specifying that they have been doing a remarkable job in developing their area. There had of late been an acute shortage of drinking water which had been taken care of. Now, say the duo, is the turn of roads and other civic amenities and then the schools' additional facilities.