Agartala, April 13 -- An allegation of defalcation of donated gold ornaments at Tripura Sundari Temple against principal opposition CPI(M) raised by former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb stirred a war of words between the political rivals.

On April 10, former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb who happens to be the Lok Sabha MP from West Tripura claimed that when the donation box of the Tripura Sundari Temple was opened as per the annual custom in 2018, several ornaments were found to be gold plated.

Accusing the CPI(M) Party of misappropriation of the gold ornaments from the temple's donation, Deb alleged that it was the then-ruling party that replaced the original gold ornaments with gold-plated jewelry.

According to Deb, in order to put a...