The Congress got a jolt five days before the Patiala Municipal Corporation polls with another party candidate joining the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday.
Harbeer Singh Sekhon from ward number 31 joined the SAD in presence of rural development minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, who welcomed him along with other Congressmen by giving siropas.
Sekhon's defection is a major embarrassment for Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Capt Amarinder Singh as two of the three candidates, who quit the party after filing nominations, are from wards included in the Patiala Urban constituency represented by him.
Earlier, the candidates from ward number 2 of Patiala Rural constituency and ward 37 of Patiala Urban segment had joined the SAD camp after filing nominations from the Congress.
The latest development is also a setback for Capt's wife and minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur as Sekhon was said to have been her choice from ward number 31, which is close to the palace of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, the state Congress chief's ancestral home.