Chandigarh: The ruling Akali Dal headed by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday received a shot in the arm following the return to its fold of a breakaway legislator.

Gurdev Singh Shatrana, a member of the state Assembly, who had joined the breakaway Sarbhind Akali Dal faction led by Gurcharan Singh Tohra, returned to happy scenes of homecoming at the chief minister's office.

Shatrana was greeted by warm embraces by Badal supporters. Shatrana hails from Patiala, the home district of Tohra, and was considered a close protégé of the latter.

Shatrana was among the 13 legislators who formed the Sarbhind Akali Dal. With his return, the strength of the Badal-led Akali Dal has gone up to 63 in the state Assembly of 117 members in which one seat is vacant.

Sources close to Badal hinted that at least two, possibly three more, breakaway legislators were in contact with him and wanted to return to the parent party's fold. Badal would take them back as individuals and not as a group, the sources claimed.

With the return of Shatrana, whatever little challenge Tohra posed to Badal has started fizzling out, the sources said.

The Badal-led Dal, which has moved the state Assembly speaker to declare Shatrana, along with 12 other rebels, as "unattached members", is expected to withdraw the petition against Shatrana.