Kheda, also known as Kaira, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was former administrative capital of Kheda district. India's First Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel Was Born In Kheda District of Gujarat State.Kheda city is famous for tobacco farming. The nearest railway station is . Nearest Airport is Ahmedabad airport. Nearest Bus Station is "Kheda Bus Station". History The name Kheda originated from the Sanskrit term Kshetra (). Khetaka in used as a name of a region surrounding the place in ancient literature. It is also mentioned as a town from 12th to 17th century. Ganapatha (dated 2nd century BCE), one of the five volumes of Pāṇini' s grammar mentions Khetaka as a name of the region. It is also mentioned as Divyanagar in 133rd chapter of Padmapurana. The 7th and 8th century copper-plates of Maitraka dynasty mentions Khetaka as an administrative division as well as there are mentions of it as a place of Brahmin residence and a Rashtrakuta-controlled town in other copper-plates. There were about 750 villages under that administrative division. It is also mentioned in Nimbavati story of Dashakumaracharita, Acharanga Sutra, Merutunga's Prabandhachintamani (1305 CE), Puratana-prabandha-sangraha (before 15th century, multiple authors) and Jinaprabha's Vividh-tirtha-kalpa (c. 1332 CE). It was under Chaulukya and Vaghela dynasties from 10th to the start of the 14th century. It was brought under Gujarat Sultanate then. The town of Kheda passed to the Babi Dynasty (of Pashtun descent) early in the eighteenth century, with whom it remained until 1763, when it was taken by the Marathas under Damajirao Gaekwad. Mahmad Khan Babi built its fort. The Marathas under Anandrao Gaekwad ceded the district to the British in 1803, and it became part of the Bombay Presidency of British India. Nevertheless Kaira was still entitled, at least in 1901, to a tribute of 488 Rupees from the Koli petty princely state of Ghorasar. Kheda was a large military station until 1830, when the cantonment was removed to Deesa. Brahmin established many villages in the Kheda District area, as did Jats and other groups. Kheda is also where Mahatma Gandhi launched, starting March 1919, the Satyagraha struggle against oppressive taxation by the British during a time of famine. The Babi family which ruled Kheda shifted to Khambat and now most of that family lives in Ahmedabad. The last head of the Kheda family, Sahibzada Ahmed Siddique Hussain khanji