Mumbai, Jan 16 (IANS): The Congress on Monday announced plans to lay siege (gherao) to RBI headquarters in Mumbai and its branch in Nagpur on January 18 to protest against demonetisation.

"We have decided to intensify the agitation against the 'anti-people' demonetization and its effects on the masses. For this, we shall stage a 'gherao' of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) offices in Mumbai and Nagpur," former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde said here.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister's comments came after a high-level Congress meeting of top leaders presided over by Maharashtra Congress president and ex-chief minister Ashok Chavan in the presence of two other former chief ministers Narayan Rane, Prithviraj Chavan and others.

While Chavan would lead the siege program at RBI headquarters in south Mumbai, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and others would lead the brigade at the RBI Nagpur office.

In the past few weeks, the party organised a series of agitations and public awareness programmes on the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, led by city Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam which evoked significant response from the masses.

The Congress has strongly criticised the manner in which demonetisation has been implemented putting crores of people to immense hardships -- especially in rural areas, and whose after-effects have claimed over 120 lives.