Mumbai, May 17 (IANS): Taking up the concerns of students and their parents on the NEET issue, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Monday said he called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked who runs the country -- the government or the Supreme Court.

"I called up the prime minister and asked him: 'Who runs the country - the government or the Supreme Court?' I apprised him of serious concerns on National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) which are worrying the parents and students alike," Thackeray told the media.

He said he told Modi that NEET will make the state educational boards redundant and cautioned that depressed students will commit suicides like farmers if the government did not intervene immediately.

"When there is already a Common Entrance Test (CET) in Maharashtra, where is the need for NEET?" Thackeray said after a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here.

On May 9, the Supreme Court refused to modify its April 28 order making NEET mandatory for admission to undergraduate medical courses across the country for the academic year 2016-2017.

On May 5, over four lakh students appeared in the MHT-CET for admissions to the MBBS and BDS courses in Maharashtra's medical and dental colleges.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis said he will meet the prime minister to apprise him of the concerns of Maharashtra's students and their parents on the issue and seek his intervention.