Kolkata, Oct 6 (IANS): Senior West Bengal BJP leader and former legislator Shamik Bhattacharya on Tuesday alleged that he was attacked and beaten up severely by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants in South 24 Parganas' Diamond Harbour area.

Bhattacharya said he was heading for a political rally in the district when his vehicle was stopped midway by nearly 150 TMC supporters armed with iron rods, sharp weapons and firearms.

They vandalised his car, breaking its windscreen, beat him up and tore his shirt, he claimed.

"I was going for a political rally when around 150 armed activists of Trinamool stopped my car. They assaulted me, saying that they won't allow the BJP to get a foothold in the district," Bhattacharya told reporters on his return to Kolkata after abandoning the plan to hold the rally.

He said that law and order in Bengal had turned so bad that there was no freedom for the opposition to even hold rallies.

On Sunday night, BJP leader Manish Shukla was shot dead on BT Road in Titagarh in North 24 Parganas district by motorcycle-borne assailants, barely a few metres away from the area police station.