Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has said the Congress, which was in power at the Centre when the Rafale fighter deal was first proposed, sat on it till 2007 because it was unable to find a "middleman" with which the party can set up an "equation". Every defence deal by the Congress had middlemen who were close to the party leadership, Yogi Adityanath said, citing Ottavio Quattrocchi, the alleged middleman in the Bofors case and Christian Michel, who allegedly had a similar role in AgustaWestland chopper deal.