Hinting at a greater role for him in Uttar Pradesh politics, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that he had come to the state to play a 'longer innings'. He also said he wants to defeat parties who have been dividing people on the basis of caste and religious lines.

Addressing campaign rallies in Aligarh and surrounding areas, he told the people that they should not think that he was there with the Assembly elections in mind. "You will come to know in about a month's time whether I have come here  for polls or for a longer innings," he added.

Hundreds of people turned up to see and hear the young Congress MP from Amethi at Iglas, where Congress has fielded Rakesh Chowdhary, and Sasni from where a former BJP man Hari Shankar Mahor is in the fray on a Congress ticket.

Accusing the successive governments in the state in the past 15 years of neglecting development, he asked the youth to come forward and strengthen his hands to take the state on a development trajectory.

"It is your responsibility to take the state forward and place it at a position where it once was. I have come to UP so
that I can do this job by working with you shoulder-to-shoulder," he said drawing a loud applause from the crowd.

"Those parties and those leaders who have ruled the state for the past 15 years will also come to know that I am not
here just for elections. Rahul Gandhi has come to UP to play a long innings and to remove them," he added. 

"In a short time, they will know that Rahul Gandhi is not here alone. There is a strong force behind him in the form of
the youth of Uttar Pradesh," said Gandhi, who is touring the state on the third leg of his road show.

The Congress young turk is campaigning in Western Uttar Pradesh, considered to be a strong hold of Rashtriya Lok Dal supremo Ajit Singh, which goes for polls on Friday in the second phase of the elections.

In a veiled attack against the BJP, BSP and the SP, he said the people of UP are migrating to other parts to help the
country move forward as they are unable to do so in their home state.

"The state has got such governments in the past that do not allow the people to move forward. Only one thing and one
power can change the situation and that is youth power," he added.

He said UP was always on the road to development, but this has changed in the past 15 years. "This had happened
because parties divided you on the basis of caste and religion," he said without naming any particular party.