Mulayam cousin, Azam wife on SP list for RS elections

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's cousin Ram Gopal Yadav and wife of Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan are among six candidates named today by the party for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Apart from Ram Gopal and Azam's wife Tazeen Fatima, SP chief Mulayam also declared the names of Ravi Prakash Verma, Javed Ali, Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and Neeraj Shekhar -- the son of former prime minister, the late Chandra Shekhar -- for the elections to the Upper House.
Elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in UP will be held on Nov. 20 and SP is certain to win six of those because of its numerical strength in the state Assembly.

There was speculation that the party could renominate its former member Amar Singh, who is retiring from the Upper House, due to his personal equation with Mulayam.
Reports had it that SP was also considering the name of RLD chief Ajit Singh for a berth in Rajya Sabha after the Jat leader's party failed to win a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections.