MUMBAI, Oct. 26 -- Amid the ongoing tussle between the BJP and Shiv Sena before the civic polls in Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde paid a visit to New Delhi to meet PM Narendra Modi. The deputy CM maintained that he had gone to convey Diwali greetings and discuss certain infra projects but his visit is significant, coming as it does amid the dispute between the two ruling parties over seat-sharing in Mumbai, Thane and other civic bodies and the war of words unleashed by politicians from both parties against each other. The BJP plans to contest 150 of the 227 seats in the BMC and leave the rest for its allies, the Sena and NCP. CM Devendra Fadnavis has also declared that the mayor could be from the BJP. The Shinde-led Sena, however, wants more seats than what the BJP is offering, given that Shinde lured more than 65 Shiv Sena (UBT) corporators to defect to his party and now needs to give them tickets. He reportedly presented his side to Modi and asked for a fair deal in the seat-sharing. While Fadnavis has said that the two parties may have an alliance in four corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and could fight separately in other civic bodies, including Thane, which is Shinde's home turf, the BJP has decided to fight Mumbai in alliance with the Sena, as it needs to capture power in the BMC at any cost. Fadnavis has asked Shinde to take a call on whether he wants an alliance in the Thane civic polls. Shiv Sainiks at the ground level are keen on going solo, a fact Shinde admitted, saying that they wanted to contest separately as this was a local election. However, he declared that the leadership would take the final call and the workers would have to fall in line. Speaking to media persons on Saturday, he reiterated, "The NDA and Mahayuti have the same vision, based on ideology and the politics of development. We will fight the civic polls together." Despite Shinde's all-is-well facade, there exists a lot of tension between his party and the BJP. The Sena's Pune city chief Ravindra Dhangekar has levelled a series of allegations against Pune BJP MP and union minister of state Muralidhar Mohol in a case related to his proposal to commercially exploit the land of a Jain trust. This has put Mohol in a tight spot. It has also led to ill-will between the alliance partners in Pune, where the BJP hopes to win the civic polls. Mohol was summoned by Fadnavis to his residence, Varsha, on Friday. Shinde, when asked about this strife, said that appropriate messages had been sent out to ensure that there was no bitterness among the coalition partners. "Dhangekar has been told that there should be no differences in the Mahayuti," he said. "All workers must promote the cause of the alliance and keep it intact." Sena minister Uday Samant had proclaimed earlier that they would ask Dhangekar to stop, but the BJP needed to rein in its minister Ganesh Naik, who was continuously making statements against Shinde and holding janata darbars in Shinde's home turf, Thane. Union Home minister Amit Shah is on a two-day visit to Mumbai from Sunday to inaugurate the international maritime week, and Shinde is likely to meet him too....