Sadhu Yadav

Anirudh Prasad, who goes by the alias of Sadhu Yadav, is an Indian politician and a brother-in-law of Laloo Yadav, the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and sometime Chief Minister of the state of Bihar.

As a member of the RJD, Yadav was a member of the Bihar Legislative Council in 2001^[1] and was also a Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly^[2] prior to being elected in 2004 as a Member of Parliament for the Gopalganj constituency.^[3][1][4] He left the RJD after a dispute with the party leader, his brother-in-law,^[5] Laloo Yadav, that related to allocation of constituencies between that party and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). The Gopalganj constituency had become a reserved seat and an LJP candidate, who had not previously been successful in elections, was preferred to Yadav elsewhere.^[3][6] Two days after leaving the RJD, in March 2009, Yadav joined the INC^[7] and was unsuccessful in gaining re-election to the Lok Sabha - the lower house of the Parliament of India - when he contested the Champaran Lok Sabha constituency.^[6]

In March 2010 he was briefly suspended from the Bihar section of the Indian National Congress (INC) for allegedly challenging the party's policy strategy. He denied voicing any such challenge and his explanation was accepted.^[5][8] Returning to the Gopalganj constituency, Yadav then fought and lost as a candidate for the INC in the Bihar legislative assembly election, 2010.^[9] That election saw confusion regarding the ages of several candidates, including Yadav. The candidates claimed that errors had resulted in the printing process for pre-election affidavits, and in Yadav's case this meant that he was recorded as aged 47 in 2009 when he had been shown as 44 at the time of the 2004 general elections. When asked for clarification by the BBC in 2009, he claimed to be aged 40.^[10]

The 2003 film Gangaajal, which is based on true events in Bihar and features a politician character called Sadhu Yadav, caused Yadav's supporters to attack cinemas when it was released. Yadav himself attempted to prevent screening of the film, pleading to the court that it belittled him, but Prakash Jha, the director, claimed that "Sadhu Yadav is just a character in the movie. The movie has nothing to do with the profession of politics nor is it a caricature of the Bihar politician."^[11]

On 25 March 2014, he announced his candidature for 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Saran contesting against his sister and ex-Chief Minister of Bihar Rabri Devi. He stood as an independent candidate.^[12]

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