Naresh Uttam Patel (born 10 January 1956) is an Indian politician, leader of the Samajwadi Party[4] and a former member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.

[5] He first became an MLA as a Janata Dal candidate in 1989 and is one of the founding members of the Samajwadi Party.

With his clean image and educated background (post-graduate from Kanpur University, he has earned a reputation of grass-root leader with wider following among the dominant Kurmi caste voters, the community to which he himself belongs.

[8] He was the Minister in first Mulayam Government from 1989 to 1991 and three times Member of UP Legislative House.

[9] He belongs to Kurmi OBCs[10] caste of UP and has been considered to be close[11] to Mulayam Singh Yadav.