 He later joined the socialist movement and worked with socialist leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Ashok Mehta and Madhu Dandavate.When the huts in the city were burnt down as part of a "Clean Bombay" operation when Morarji Desai was Chief Minister, Sundaram organised the hutment-dwellers and forcefully occupied the Bombay municipal office.The government was forced to provide alternative land and houses to them near to Chembur.