Rename a table involved in replication from publication without re-initialization

EXEC  sys.sp_dropsubscription 

    @publication = N'ABC_pub',

    @article = N'Candidate',

    @subscriber = N'SQl4',

    @destination_db = N'ABC' ;

GO

EXEC sys.sp_droparticle 

    @publication = N'ABC_pub',

    @article = N'Candidate',

    @force_invalidate_snapshot = 1 ;

GO

 

 Use ABC

 go

 sp_rename 'Candidate','Candidate_X';

 --back to original 

 Use ABC

 go

 sp_rename 'Candidate_X','Candidate';