diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/metadata/node_metadata.c b/src/backend/distributed/metadata/node_metadata.c
index edd72e71f..430e3fdb9 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/metadata/node_metadata.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/metadata/node_metadata.c
@@ -811,12 +811,10 @@ SyncDistributedObjectsCommandList(WorkerNode *workerNode)
 	 */
 	commandList = list_concat(commandList, PropagateNodeWideObjectsCommandList());
 
-	/*
-	 * Detach partitions, break dependencies between sequences and table then
-	 * remove shell tables first.
-	 */
-	commandList = list_concat(commandList, DetachPartitionCommandList());
 	commandList = lappend(commandList, BREAK_CITUS_TABLE_SEQUENCE_DEPENDENCY_COMMAND);
+
+	/* first remove partitioned tables to avoid any need for detaching partitions */
+	commandList = lappend(commandList, REMOVE_PARTITIONED_SHELL_TABLES_COMMAND);
 	commandList = lappend(commandList, REMOVE_ALL_SHELL_TABLES_COMMAND);
 
 	/*
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h b/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h
index eb64f14fa..db63c46d6 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h
@@ -117,6 +117,8 @@ extern void SyncDeleteColocationGroupToNodes(uint32 colocationId);
 #define DELETE_ALL_DISTRIBUTED_OBJECTS "DELETE FROM pg_catalog.pg_dist_object"
 #define DELETE_ALL_PARTITIONS "DELETE FROM pg_dist_partition"
 #define DELETE_ALL_COLOCATION "DELETE FROM pg_catalog.pg_dist_colocation"
+#define REMOVE_PARTITIONED_SHELL_TABLES_COMMAND \
+	"SELECT worker_drop_shell_table(logicalrelid::regclass::text) FROM pg_dist_partition JOIN pg_class ON (logicalrelid = oid) WHERE relkind = 'p'"
 #define REMOVE_ALL_SHELL_TABLES_COMMAND \
 	"SELECT worker_drop_shell_table(logicalrelid::regclass::text) FROM pg_dist_partition"
 #define REMOVE_ALL_CITUS_TABLES_COMMAND \