Jakarta – A mob of loyalists to popular Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputi's beat up the chief of a rival state backed party which she used to lead, reports said Monday.

Budi Hardjono, the head of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI), was severely beaten up and briefly kidnapped by Megawati supporters Sunday during a visit to Lampung on the island of Sumatra, the Berita Buana newspaper said.

Megawati in 1996 was ousted from the leadership of the PDI in a state-backed political maneuver which triggered rioting in Jakarta, but retained her popularity and formed a new party.

The new party, the Indonesian Democracy Struggle Party (PDI Perjuangan), will contest the upcoming June 7 elections.

PDI-Struggle loyalists demanded Hardjono, who was inducting new provincial executives, leave Lampung. He and his entourage hid in a room for a couple of hours but were beaten and kicked by the mob when they left the building, the report said.

Security forces could not control the mob, which went on to nab Hardjono and some of the executives in a car, but elite police troops later rescued them.

Hardjono, speaking Monday on the private Surya Citra Television news, said he was "fine and well," but that PDI-Struggle should bear responsibility for the incident.

He added he could press charges against any suspect the police found guilty.