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CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the alliance will be stronger than before. 

He said so during a programme organised in the party office on Wednesday.

Chairman Nepal said that all the parties of the ruling coalition will move ahead as a team till the upcoming elections. 

“The five-party alliance will not break down. We will make the coalition stronger,” he said. 

Leader Nepal said that false rumours are making rounds that the alliance will be divided before the elections.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Tuesday of deliberately creating a scenario designed to lure it into war and ignoring Russia's security concerns over Ukraine, Reuters reported.

In his first direct public comments on the crisis for nearly six weeks, a defiant Putin showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has called non-starters and a possible excuse to launch an invasion, which Moscow denies.

"It's already clear now ... that fundamental Russian concerns were ignored," Putin said at a news conference with the visiting prime minister of Hungary, one of several NATO leaders trying to intercede with him as the crisis has intensified.

Putin described a potential future scenario in which Ukraine was admitted to NATO and then attempted to recapture the Crimea peninsula, territory Russia seized in 2014.

"Let's imagine Ukraine is a NATO member and starts these military operations. Are we supposed to go to war with the NATO bloc? Has anyone given that any thought? Apparently not," he said.

Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and Western countries say they fear Putin may be planning to invade.

Russia denies this but has said it could take unspecified military action unless its security demands are met. Western countries say any invasion would bring sanctions on Moscow.

The Kremlin wants the West to respect a 1999 agreement that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others, which it considers at the heart of the crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

He raised the charter signed in Istanbul by members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the United States and Canada, during a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Lavrov said Blinken accepted the need to discuss the matter further whilst a US account of the call focused on the need for Moscow to pull back.

"If President Putin truly does not intend war or regime change, the Secretary told Foreign Minister Lavrov then this is the time to pull back troops and heavy weaponry and engage in a serious discussion," a senior State Department official told reporters.

The US is willing to discuss giving the Kremlin a way to verify the absence of Tomahawk cruise missiles at NATO bases in Romania and Poland, if Russia shares similar information about missiles on certain Russian bases, Bloomberg reported.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment but a source familiar with the situation said the United States has only offered to have talks on a variety of Russia's concerns, such as arms control issues in the appropriate forums.

'INSTRUMENT'

Putin had not spoken publicly about the Ukraine crisis since Dec. 23, leaving ambiguity about his personal position while diplomats from Russia and the West have been engaged in repeated rounds of talks.

His remarks on Tuesday reflected a world view in which Russia needs to defend itself from an aggressive and hostile United States. Washington is not primarily concerned with Ukraine's security, but with containing Russia, Putin said.

"In this sense, Ukraine itself is just an instrument to achieve this goal," he said.

"This can be done in different ways, by drawing us into some kind of armed conflict and, with the help of their allies in Europe, forcing the introduction against us of those harsh sanctions they are talking about now in the US"

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has often sparred with Western European leaders over democracy in his own country, said he believed after his talks with Putin that there was room for a compromise.

"I got convinced today that the existing differences in positions can be bridged and it is possible to sign an agreement that would guarantee peace, guarantee Russia's security and is acceptable for NATO member states as well," Orban said.

GUN TO UKRAINE'S HEAD

As Western countries rush to show solidarity with Ukraine, the U.S. urged Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to cancel a visit with Putin in Russia, a source told Reuters.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv and accused Putin of holding a gun to Ukraine's head to demand changes to the security architecture in Europe.

"It is vital that Russia steps back and chooses a path of diplomacy," Johnson said. "And I believe that is still possible. We are keen to engage in dialogue, of course we are, but we have the sanctions ready, we're providing military support and we will also intensify our economic cooperation."

Johnson said any Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to a military and humanitarian disaster.

"There are 200,000 men and women under arms in Ukraine, they will put up a very, very fierce and bloody resistance," he said. "I think that parents, mothers in Russia should reflect on that fact and I hope very much that President Putin steps back from the path of conflict and that we engage in dialogue."

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, also visiting Kyiv, said Poland would help Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and economic aid.

"Living close to a neighbour like Russia, we have the feeling of living at the foot of a volcano," said Morawiecki.

Zelenskiy, who has repeatedly played down the prospect of an imminent invasion, signed a decree to boost his armed forces by 100,000 troops over three years. He urged lawmakers to stay calm and avoid panic.

The troop increase was "not because we will soon have a war ... but so that soon and in the future there will be peace in Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.

The Election Commission has asked Rs 12 billion with the government to hold the local level elections. 

During a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday, the Election Commission office bearers said that it would cost around Rs 12 billion if the elections are held in 753 local units in one phase. 

The Election Commission said that the budget will be spent on the salaries, allowances and daily allowances among others of the people deployed in the elections.  

The poll body said that mthan Rs 8 billion was spent in the elections held in 2017.

India's government will step up spending to 39.45 trillion rupees ($529.7 billion) in the coming fiscal year to build public infrastructure and drive economic growth, it said on Tuesday, but it involves a wider fiscal deficit than targeted and record borrowing, Reuters reported.

Asia's third-largest economy has been on the mend after the government lifted mobility measures in June to curb the spread of coronavirus, after contracting 6.6% in the previous fiscal year.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the annual budget to parliament, said total government spending in the 2022/23 fiscal year beginning in April will be 4.6% more than the current year.

Trillions of rupees will be allocated to expressways, affordable housing and solar manufacturing to put growth on a firmer footing, she said.

Growth is estimated to be 9.2% for 2021/2022, coming off the low base and slowing to 8 to 8.5% in the coming fiscal year, still the fastest among the world's major economies.

The recovery from the pandemic has been swift but incomplete, officials say. Private consumption has been hampered by a lack of jobs, depleted household balance sheets and wider income inequalities.

Sitharaman said public investment must continue to take the lead and pump prime private investment and demand.

"The economy has shown strong resilience to come out of the effects of the pandemic with high growth. However, we need to sustain that level to make up for the setback of 2020/21," she said.

She announced spending of 200 billion rupees ($2.68 billion) for a highway expansion programme and said 400 new trains would be manufactured over the next three years.

The fiscal deficit for the current year would be 6.9% of GDP, slightly more than the 6.8% targeted earlier, Sitharaman said, drawing concern in the bond market.

For the next fiscal year, India is targeting a deficit of 6.4% of GDP, hoping to build on higher tax revenues and privatisation of state firms including a share sale of giant insurer Life Insurance Corporation.

“It’s a big bang budget, but depends on where one stands on the bang perimeter. The massive ramp-up of capital spending and focus on infrastructure cements the budget’s credentials as a firmly growth-oriented one," said Aurodeep Nandi, India Economist and Vice President at Nomura.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield surged 22 basis points to 6.87% from its pre-budget level, hitting levels last seen in early July 2019, while the rupee weakened to 74.8650 per dollar from 74.55.

Gross borrowing for 2022/23 was raised 40% to 14.95 trillion rupees. Gross borrowing by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has more than doubled during the pandemic as New Delhi went on a spending spree to cushion the economy and provide relief to poor.

"The sharp rise in bond yields after the budget announcement is testament to the surprise for bond markets, which now will need to absorb this large borrowing," said Nandi.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 stock index (.NSEI) gave up some early gains to trade 0.76% higher at 17,472.35 by 0809 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) was up 0.88% at 58,522.42.

LESS AMBITIOUS ON PRIVATISATION

The government sharply reduced its plans about privatisation of state-run companies after political criticism and market turmoil, expecting to raise 650 billion rupees from the privatisation programme next fiscal year, lower than the revised 780 billion target for the current fiscal year.

Initially, it had announced it would raise 1.75 trillion rupees this fiscal year. After years of efforts the government succeeded in selling loss-making carrier Air India last month, but failed to move forward on other companies and banks identified for sale.

It is now banking on the IPO of giant insurer Life Insurance Corporation, expected in the next few weeks, to bring revenues and reinvigorate the privatisation programme.

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Sitharaman also said the central bank would introduce a digital currency in the next fiscal year using blockchain and other supporting technology.

"Introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big boost to the digital economy. A digital currency will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system," Sitharaman said.

India's central bank has voiced "serious concerns" around private cryptocurrencies on the grounds that these may cause financial instability.