New Delhi — Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien said on Saturday, 7 November, that the sharp Congress–Aam Aadmi Party fight in Punjab does not mean the wider opposition is divided against the BJP. In a post on X, he wrote: "In Punjab, it's Congress versus AAP, fighting it out fair and square. So it is natural the two will come hard at each other. In all this, the BJP have nothing to fake a smile about. All Opposition parties fighting the BJP know our roles. All good."

The remark comes after a week of escalating personal exchanges between the Congress and the ruling AAP ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections — including Rahul Gandhi's 4 November Sangrur rally attack on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the drug menace, AAP's rebuttals, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's "BJP's B-team" remark about AAP, which AAP MP Sanjay Singh hit back at. Those exchanges are already covered on Awaaz Punjab; O'Brien's intervention is the first public comment from a third opposition party framing the Punjab fight as contained.

What is solid

  • Derek O'Brien posted the statement on his own X account on 7 November 2026, reported by ANI the same day
  • Congress and AAP have spent the week publicly attacking each other ahead of the 2027 Punjab elections

What is only claimed

  • O'Brien's assertion that all opposition parties 'know our roles' and remain united against the BJP — his political claim; neither Congress nor AAP has announced any Punjab understanding, and both parties are publicly campaigning against each other for 2027