With elections looming in different states, rebellion is in the air. Prominent politicians, disgruntled about one thing or the other, are speaking out openly because they know this is when parties are at their most vulnerable and there is a good chance they can get away with it.In Rajasthan, one of the few states the Congress runs, Sachin Pilot has raised the flag of revolt against his old bête noire, chief minister Ashok Gehlot. He sat on a daylong dharna against his own government, protesting that Gehlot had not investigated corruption charges against the previous BJP government. A somewhat flimsy excuse, but anything will do, because Pilot’s real motive is to carve out his own space and prepare the ground for his next move. Elections are to be held in Rajasthan in December, and Pilot will aim for the best deal for himself and his followers.The tensions between Gehlot, who is a veteran in the game, and Pilot, a rising politician with his own support base, have been simmering since 2018, when the two tussled over tickets to candidates and the chief minister’s chair. It all spilled out into the open in 2020 when Pilot, along with 18 other MLAs, openly revolted against Gehlot and implicitly threatened to leave the fold. He was mollified by the party’s high command and eventually reconciled.Clearly the reconciliation was only temporary because he is back at it. The fight now is going to be for a say in the distribution of tickets to favoured party men and women, and then, the chief minister’s chair, should the party win. There are, of course, greener pastures elsewhere, but that is always the last resort. Pilot’s pique against Gehlot seems personal rather than principled, and his supporters say the sentiment is reciprocated.In Karnataka, which is headed for elections in May, it is the BJP that is facing the heat from its own members. Former chief minister Jagdish Shettar, a six-time MLA, has announced that he will contest the elections, even if not under the BJP banner. Shettar was told by his party that he wouldn’t be given a ticket. He saw this as an affront, especially as it was done just a few days before the last date of filing nominations. Others have rebelled, too.In Maharashtra, the “rebellion” is of a different type. The Pawars, uncle Sharad and nephew Ajit, have begun to make strategic statements which could undermine the existing Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, headed by Uddhav Thackeray, of which the Nationalist Congress Party, controlled by Sharad Pawar, is a member. First Sharad Pawar, the canny politician, declared that he didn’t agree with the opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the report by US short-seller Hindenburg on Adani Group. He said the group was being targeted by unknown persons. Then he said he would support the JPC should it be set up.The tacit support for Adani was against the accepted line of the opposition, especially the Congress, which is a partner of the NCP in the coalition. The Congress called him “greedy” and meanwhile, in an apparent damage-control move, Thackeray met the senior leader. Pawar has a history of enigmatic remarks and unpredictable political moves; Congress members with long memories have not forgotten his sudden decision to leave the Congress government way back in 1978 and join hands with the then Janata Party to form a new coalition. Congress leaders in Maharashtra have always been suspicious of the Pawars.Meanwhile, Pawar Jr – the same Ajit Pawar who jumped ship and was sworn in along with Devendra Fadnavis in the infamous predawn function – has been meeting Eknath Shinde and others ostensibly to discuss damage to crops. He has also occasionally strayed from the rest of his MVA colleagues and been heard making digs at Uddhav Thackeray.All this would be par for the course except that Maharashtra political circles are swirling with talk that the NCP might step in to save the government should the Supreme Court disqualify the Eknath Shinde group, which will reduce the BJP to a minority. This is not such an outlandish possibility – in 2014 the NCP backed the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, which allowed the government to win a floor test. Ajit Pawar has always maintained a warm relationship with Fadnavis, and will be amenable to such an arrangement. This will demolish the MVA, which is already suffering from the loss of Shinde and his band of MLAs. The BJP, which has never won a full majority in Maharashtra, is desperate to hold on to the state, the richest in the country and which sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha.