diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_cleaner.c b/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_cleaner.c
index 896daf55b..9420f3f66 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_cleaner.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_cleaner.c
@@ -169,10 +169,24 @@ TryDropOrphanedShards(bool waitForLocks)
 {
 	int droppedShardCount = 0;
 	MemoryContext savedContext = CurrentMemoryContext;
+
+	/*
+	 * Start a subtransaction so we can rollback database's state to it in case
+	 * of error.
+	 */
+	BeginInternalSubTransaction(NULL);
+
 	PG_TRY();
 	{
 		droppedShardCount = DropOrphanedShardsForMove(waitForLocks);
 		droppedShardCount += DropOrphanedShardsForCleanup();
+
+		/*
+		 * Releasing a subtransaction doesn't free its memory context, since the
+		 * data it contains will be needed at upper commit. See the comments for
+		 * AtSubCommit_Memory() at postgres/src/backend/access/transam/xact.c.
+		 */
+		ReleaseCurrentSubTransaction();
 	}
 	PG_CATCH();
 	{
@@ -180,6 +194,8 @@ TryDropOrphanedShards(bool waitForLocks)
 		ErrorData *edata = CopyErrorData();
 		FlushErrorState();
 
+		RollbackAndReleaseCurrentSubTransaction();
+
 		/* rethrow as WARNING */
 		edata->elevel = WARNING;
 		ThrowErrorData(edata);
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_split.c b/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_split.c
index 235a51395..9cdd3e7f7 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_split.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/operations/shard_split.c
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ static void CreateAndCopySplitShardsForShardGroup(WorkerNode *sourceShardNode,
 												  List *shardGroupSplitIntervalListList,
 												  List *workersForPlacementList);
 static bool CheckIfRelationWithSameNameExists(ShardInterval *shardInterval,
-										   WorkerNode *workerNode);
+											  WorkerNode *workerNode);
 static void CreateSplitShardsForShardGroup(List *shardGroupSplitIntervalListList,
 										   List *workersForPlacementList);
 static void CreateDummyShardsForShardGroup(HTAB *mapOfPlacementToDummyShardList,
@@ -635,7 +635,7 @@ CreateSplitShardsForShardGroup(List *shardGroupSplitIntervalListList,
 			 * old shard. We don't want that.
 			 */
 			bool relationExists = CheckIfRelationWithSameNameExists(shardInterval,
-															  workerPlacementNode);
+																	workerPlacementNode);
 
 			if (relationExists)
 			{
@@ -1535,7 +1535,7 @@ CreateDummyShardsForShardGroup(HTAB *mapOfPlacementToDummyShardList,
 			 * old shard. We don't want that.
 			 */
 			bool relationExists = CheckIfRelationWithSameNameExists(shardInterval,
-															  workerPlacementNode);
+																	workerPlacementNode);
 
 			if (relationExists)
 			{
@@ -1600,7 +1600,7 @@ CreateDummyShardsForShardGroup(HTAB *mapOfPlacementToDummyShardList,
 			 * old shard. We don't want that.
 			 */
 			bool relationExists = CheckIfRelationWithSameNameExists(shardInterval,
-															  sourceWorkerNode);
+																	sourceWorkerNode);
 
 			if (relationExists)
 			{