A day after a fresh round of talks between Ladakh leaders and officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was held in Leh on Thursday, the two bodies on Friday rejected the draft presented by the Central Government.The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) on Thursday had expressed dissatisfaction over the draft proposal presented by the Centre.The next round of discussions is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on October 22.LAB chairman Chering Dorjay Lakruk told The Tribune, following a meeting, the two bodies have rejected the offer presented by the Home Ministry.KDA co-chairman Asgar Ali Karbalai told reporters in Leh, the Home Ministry has “backtracked” to what was decided in the talks held in May.He said the proposal submitted by the Home Ministry is not accepted to the Ladakh.“Yesterday what has been shared with us, is an agency which would be below the existing council,” said Karbalai, adding that the “backtracking is not a good signal.”Karbalai also accused Ladakh LG and Chief Secretary of hyping the projects in Ladakh and presenting the same to the Prime Minister.The talks follow discussions held in New Delhi on September 9, which the LAB and KDA had described as a “non-starter”, citing a lack of substantive progress on issues concerning Ladakh.During talks held in May, the Centre and Ladakh groups had reached an in-principle understanding on extending constitutional safeguards to the Union Territory on the lines of Articles 371A, 371F and 371G, which provide special protections to Nagaland, Sikkim and Mizoram, respectively.Following criticism of the September talks, Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra had urged the region’s leaders to remain optimistic and reassure the public that progress was being made on issues of critical importance to the Union Territory.