As the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seek to dominate the political space in recent times, especially after the arrest of Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora, the Congress and the SAD appear to be missing in action.Only a few days ago, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had been directing his barbs more frequently at SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal rather than at Congress leaders — an indirect acknowledgment of the Akali Dal’s growing visibility on the ground.Following the ED raids on AAP leaders and the BJP’s alleged role in engineering the defection of six AAP Punjab Rajya Sabha MPs, the AAP leadership has trained its guns on the BJP. Recently, the Chief Minister even alleged that the BJP had planned two blasts in Punjab — in Jalandhar and Amritsar — to disturb peace in the state, drawing a strong denial from top BJP leaders.Dismissing claims that the party was missing in action, PCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring said the BJP and AAP were two sides of the same coin. “Rather than focusing on core issues, they are busy using agencies against each other to create a false public perception. The Congress is working on the ground and has been involved in an intensive exercise in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections,” he added.The intensity with which both sides are confronting each other indicates that Punjab politics no longer revolves around traditional rivalries. Over the past few days, the state has witnessed a direct confrontation between AAP and BJP workers, with the Congress and the SAD largely absent from the picture.Justifying the party’s silence on the ED raids, a senior Congress leader said after AAP, the BJP could target Congress leaders as part of a larger perception battle.Political analysts point out that the BJP, despite having only two MLAs in the Punjab Assembly, has, for the moment, managed to emerge as the most aggressive and visible Opposition force. Step by step, the saffron party has been tarnishing the public perception of AAP. Engineering the defection of six Punjab Rajya Sabha MPs, followed by ED raids, points to the BJP’s long-term political strategy, a senior AAP leader said.A senior Akali leader said the BJP had sent across a strong message that it was serious about expanding its footprint in the state, where it traditionally remained a small player outside urban pockets. The BJP, he said, had succeeded in putting AAP on the defensive.The party is now aggressively cornering the AAP government on two politically sensitive fronts. After the Enforcement Directorate conducted three raids at the premises of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, the BJP sharpened its attack on AAP’s claims of clean governance and political transparency.Akali Dal halqa in-charge from Nawanshahr Sukhdeep Singh Sukar said, “We are in no way on the back foot. Our party leadership is engaged in strategic planning for the run-up to the Assembly polls. There was a core committee meeting the day before yesterday in which all political issues were discussed at length for over three hours. Today, a meeting was convened for the halqa in-charges.”