In fast-moving political developments over the last 24 hours, senior Congress leader and former MLA Raminder Singh Awla switched to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Jattvibeday, while his bete-noire Rohit Vohra alias Montu, who had contested the last Assembly election on SAD ticket from Ferozepur Urban, on Monday joined the Congress in the presence of party general secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and senior leadership in Chandigarh. Both Awla and Vohra belong to business families and have bases in Guruharsahai. They have been political rivals for a long time.Vohra was hitherto considered the blue-eyed boy of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and had been among his close confidants. Though Vohra belongs to Guruharsahai, he had contested on SAD ticket from Ferozepur Urban in 2022 at the instance of the SAD chief only, as another of Sukhbir’s close aides, Vardev Singh Mann alias Nonny, who had been contesting from Guruharsahai for the last two elections, was renominated from the same seat.Both developments have overnight changed the political equations in this border district which has four Assembly segments — Ferozepur Urban, Ferozepur Rural, Guruharsahai and Zira — which at present are represented by AAP.Meanwhile, a day after Awla joined SAD, hundreds of Congress workers, including sitting and former sarpanches, today joined SAD throwing their weight behind Awla. Welcoming them into the fold of his newly adopted party, Awla said this was just the beginning and several other leaders would join SAD in the near future.Although Awla resides in Guruharsahai, where his family wields considerable influence, he had contested the 2019 Assembly bypoll from neighbouring Jalalabad, which was necessitated after Sukhbir vacated that seat following his victory in the Lok Sabha poll from Ferozepur.Awla’s father, Dr Harbhajan Singh, had also served as president of the Municipal Council, Guruharsahai, for a long time. After winning the 2019 bypoll, Awla had recused himself from contesting the 2022 Assembly election, following which the Congress had to field Dr Mohan Singh Phallianwala from Jalalabad. Since then, Awla’s relations with the Congress leadership have not been cordial, though he remained politically active in Jalalabad and is now expected to contest the Assembly elections from Jalalabad on SAD ticket, while Nonny Mann in all probability will be fielded from Guruharsahai only.Notably, Awla had also served as president of the Punjab Youth Congress and was considered close to the camp of former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. His strained relations with former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring was an open secret, as the two were never on good terms.