Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday met the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama in this Himachal Pradesh hill station and invited him to inaugurate the Buddha Memorial Park in Patna in May, a Tibetan official said.

'Nitish Kumar this (Monday) morning met His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) and invited him to open the Buddha Memorial Park in Patna May 27,' Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary at the Dalai Lama's office, told IANS.

He said earlier the Dalai Lama was scheduled to conclude his US visit in the last week of May, but now in the wake of the invitation, the visit has been curtailed.

'We are rescheduling the Dalai Lama's programme to enable him to inaugurate the Buddha park,' he said.

The Buddha Memorial Park and a meditation hall are being built at a cost of Rs.125 crore.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Nitish Kumar said: 'This was a non-political visit. I have come to formally invite the Dalai Lama and he has accepted our invitation.'

The Dalai Lama, along with many of his supporters, fled Tibet and took refuge here in 1959. His government-in-exile, headquartered here, is not recognised by any country in the world.