cllr dr neeraj patil kannada a kannadiga and nri from karnataka was the first mayor of asian origin in the london borough of lambeth from 20102011 he is a consultant in accident and emergency medicine who completed his fellowship from the prestigious royal college of surgeons of edinburgh and was first elected as a labour councillor for the larkhall ward in 2006 and reelected in 2010 he served as a consultant in emergency medicne at worthing hospital and was active member of kwash campaign to save the emergency services at worthing general hospitalhe has been elected from the british labour party the important event during his mayoralty was to receive the pope benedict the xvi during his official visit to london on 18 sept 2010 this was the first papal visit to the london borough of lambethhailing from the indian state of karnataka he was born in gulbarga districts kamalapura town and is now settled in the united kingdom he was awarded the award by the government of karnataka the rajyotsava award in the year 2008 for promoting accountable democracy in india dr patil has taken the initiative of installing the statue of the 12th century philosopher and founder of indian democracy lord basavanna at the albert embankment gardens in the london borough of lambeth with the support of london based pakistani muslim community south londondr neeraj patil is one of the few respected dignitaries who mesmerized the audience in his speech at the 2nd kannada vishwa sammelana held on 11 mar 2011 at belagavi karnataka addressing to a crowd of 25 millionhis famous quote during the speech was you can take indian out of india but you cannot take india out of an indian you can take a kannadiga out of karnataka but you cannot take karnataka out of the heart of a kannadigapolitical positions heldmayor of the london borough of lambeth 20102011elected as lambeth councillor20062010reelected as lambeth councillor20102014governor of kings college hospital20062007governor of st thomas hospital 20082010member of national policy forum labour party 20132015member of national executive bame labour 20092013member of nri forum karnataka 20072010board member of american academy for promoting emergency medicine in india 20132015