A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is an old picture of E. Vachira Velu, the DMK politician and the present Tamil Nadu Minister for Public Works Department, pulling the rickshaw of the late Karunanidhi, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In the wake of ED’s recent raids on properties allegedly linked to E. V. Velu in Tamil Nadu, the post alleges that a rickshaw puller now owns thousands of crores and has become the cabinet minister in the DMK government in Tamil Nadu. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Old picture of DMK politician E. V. Velu pulling the rickshaw of the late Karunanidhi.
Fact: The rickshaw puller seen in the picture is not E. V. Velu. The photo was taken during a campaign for the 1991 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections in Chennai. E. V. Velu graduated in Tamil literature and initially worked as a bus conductor before contesting for the first time and won on behalf of the AIADMK Party in the 1984 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. E. V. Velu joined the DMK party in the year 2000 and there are no news reports about E. V. Velu’s involvement in the DMK Party’s campaign for the 1991 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections.. A few Journalists from Tamil Nadu too confirmed that the rickshaw puller seen in the photo was not E. V. Velu. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found in an article (archived) published by ‘The Hindu’ on 28 November 2018. The description of the photo states, “On the road: During the campaign for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in Harbour constituency in Chennai on May 11, 1991.” It is nowhere mentioned in the description that the rickshaw puller seen in the photo was E. V. Velu.
The Vikatan news site published an article reporting the political journey of E. V. Velu. According to the article, E. V. Velu graduated in Tamil literature and initially worked as a bus conductor before contesting for the first time and winning on behalf of the AIADMK Party from the Thandarampatu Assembly constituency in the 1984 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
E. V. Velu then supported Janaki faction of the AIADMK after M. G Ramachandran’s death in 1987 and later, served as a policy secretary for the MGR Party founded by K. Bhagyaraj. As per the article published by the BBC News, E. V. Velu joined the DMK party in 2000 and recorded victories in the 2001 and 2006 assembly elections from the Thandarambattu constituency.
Later, E. V. Velu shifted his constituency to Tiruvannamalai and won consecutive elections in the 2011, 2016, and 2021 Assembly elections. No news reports have verified E. V. Velu’s involvement in the DMK Party’s campaign for the 1991 Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections. A few Journalists from Tamil Nadu too confirmed that the rickshaw puller seen in the photo was not E. V. Velu.
To sum it up, the man pulling the rickshaw of the late Karunanidhi in this photo is not Tamil Nadu Minister E. V. Velu.
