E. V. Velu

E.​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ V. Velu is a Dravidian politician who is originally from the Tiruvannamalai district of northern Tamil Nadu. He has been with the Dravidian political movement for many years. Through a ground-level campaign with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, he started his political career and slowly got a solid support base from the cadres in the Tiruvannamalai region. His first political works were mainly about rural development, party organisation, and constituency-level mobilisation, through which he became one of the important leaders of DMK in the district.

He became well-known after getting elected as a Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Tiruvannamalai constituency and then won the elections from that same constituency in a row. Being local administration and public works coordination termed as his stronghold, he was involved deeply with infrastructure-related governance even before joining the cabinet. In the earlier DMK regimes, apart from handling ministerial and parliamentary responsibilities, he gained administrative experience.

After the DMK came back to power in 2021 with M. K. Stalin as the Chief Minister, Velu was made the Public Works, Highways and Minor Ports Minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet. As such, he is in charge of road expansion of major roads and projects such as flyovers, bridges, stormwater systems, as well as port connectivity throughout Tamil Nadu. Through his ministry, several highway and urban infrastructure projects that were pending for a long time between 2021 and 2025 have been given a new pace, especially in Chennai, the northern districts, and industrial corridors.

His period in office has also been under political spotlight due to not only the massive-scale project executions but also the public controversies, among which are the 2025 statements that stirred heated political debate. Nevertheless, he has kept his cabinet position and is still a vital organisational and administrative person in the DMK government. As of 2025, he is still an elected MLA from Tiruvannamalai and the Minister for Public Works and Highways in the Tamil Nadu ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌cabinet.